Uniswap Labs, UNI holders can earn $468M per year from new L2: DeFi report

Uniswap's new layer 2 blockchain, Unichain, could be a boon for creator Uniswap Labs and the project's token holders, which could earn nearly $500 million a year from fees paid to the Ethereum network.

Unichain's launch will see the $368 million previously paid to Ethereum validators last year go directly into Uniswap Labs and possibly Uniswap (UNI) tokenholders, DeFi Report founder Michael Nadeau said in an Oct. 13 X post.

Instead of allowing labs to make MEV of Ethereum proofs, Uniswap can hold all of the Max Minable Value (MEV) on Unchain because all validators on the network own it.

“MEV is estimated to be about 10% of the total fees paid by Uniswap ($100 million last year). They will have the option to share some of that with token holders,” Nadeau said.

He added that Uniswap liquidity providers can benefit from the new blockchain by participating in settlement and MEV recording.

Nadeau said that Ethereum validators and Ether (ETH) tokens will lose a lot of Unichain's launch, with less ETH burned and fewer payments returned to the blockchain.

Last year, Uniswap generated more than $1.3 billion in trading and settlement payments across five major chains, including Ethereum, Optimism, BNB Chain, Base, and Polygon.

Uniswap – the largest decentralized exchange by volume – launched Unichain on October 10, which enables faster, cheaper transactions and improved interoperability across different blockchain networks.

The startup has met with mixed feelings from decentralized finance (DeFi) experts, with some saying another layer 2 blockchain is unnecessary.

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Proponents say that Unichain – as a layer-2 network built specifically for DeFi protocols – will provide a cleaner user experience for the average DeFi user, with greater liquidity and fewer complications from splitting into different chains.

Meanwhile, skeptics found a September 2022 post by Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin from Uniswap criticizing the idea of ​​a layer 2 blockchain.

“Uniswap's core value proposition is that you can go and trade in 30 seconds,” Buterin wrote in the post. “Even a Uniswap chain or bundle makes no sense in that context. A Uniswap copy is created on each package.

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