DeFi Report founder Michael Nadeau commented today (14th) that the launch of the Unichain blockchain by the decentralized exchange giant Uniswap Labs will significantly change the flow of funds in the Ethereum ecosystem.
According to Nadeau's analysis, the $368 million in fees paid to Ethereum validators last year will be directly transferred to Uniswap Labs and UNI token holders.
Uniswap Will Fully Control MEV
Nadeau further pointed out that Uniswap Labs will have all the validators on the Unichain, which means they can fully capture all the maximum extractable value (MEV) in the network. According to estimates, MEV accounts for about 10% of Uniswap's total transaction fees, which created about $100 million last year, and Uniswap Labs can choose to share this revenue with UNI token holders in the future.
Liquidity Providers Participate in Staking
In addition, Nadeau said that Uniswap's liquidity providers (LPs) can also benefit from the Unichain, as they can participate in settlement and MEV capture through staking, thereby increasing their earnings.
In comparison, ETH holders and Ethereum validators may become the biggest victims, as the launch of Unichain will lead to a reduction in ETH burn and impact the network's fee revenue.
Uniswap Has Generated Over $1.3 Billion in Fee Revenue
Over the past year, Uniswap has generated over $1.3 billion in trading and settlement fees on five major chains: Ethereum, Optimism, BNB Chain, Base, and Polygon. As the world's largest decentralized exchange, Unichain's future goal is to provide faster, cheaper transactions and improve cross-chain interoperability.
Mixed Reactions in the Industry, Vitalik Buterin Expressed Doubts
However, the launch of Unichain has sparked different opinions in the DeFi community:
- Supporters believe that this Layer 2 network tailored for DeFi protocols will provide users with more centralized liquidity and a more convenient user experience.
- Critics, however, cite the early comments of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, questioning the necessity of launching a Uniswap-dedicated chain, as Buterin had previously questioned the need for a Uniswap chain, stating that even rollups are meaningless, with a copy of Uniswap on every rollup.
