The Uniswap Labs community has already started deliberating a new idea that would create a Uniswap Foundation with a U.S. headquarters, but it will first cost $74 million.
The idea has so far received a mixed response from the community. While many have praised the foundation’s efforts to promote and develop the Uniswap ecosystem, others have expressed concern about the initiative’s high price tag.
If a fresh proposal from two community members is approved later this month, a new $74 million foundation might finance the largest DEX in the world.
Devin Walsh, a former chief of staff at Uniswap Labs, and Kenneth Ng, the director of the Uniswap Grant Program, submitted the proposal on August 5. Walsh stated that the foundation’s primary goals are to “support the Protocol’s decentralized growth, reinvigorate governance, and serve as a Protocol advocate.”
If it receives enough support, the Uniswap Foundation (UF) would be incorporated in Delaware, with Walsh serving as executive director and Ng taking on the role of operations director.
Walsh has requested $74 million in UNI tokens over three years to fund her idea, of which $60 million would go toward her own Uniswap Grant Program (UGP) and the remaining $14 million would serve as an “operational budget” to hire a team of 12.
By trading volume, Uniswap is the planet’s biggest decentralized exchange (DEX). According to CoinGecko, Uniswap V3, the third iteration of the DEX, had a volume of $793.8 billion over the previous 24 hours, matching Huobi Global and KuCoin, two centralized exchanges (CEXs).
Hayden Adams, the founder of Uniswap, declared in a tweet on August 4 that he was “Sooo happy about this proposition.” Adams continued, “After this passes, the Foundation will be yet another team working towards a future where the Protocol does not just survive – it flourishes,” with the apparent assurance that the proposal will be approved.
Adams and other members of the Uniswap community have supported the concept to some extent thus far, but there is a sizable group of opponents who believe the price is excessive.
Adam Cochran, a partner at Cinneamhain Ventures, expressed his support for the UF’s objectives but noted in a tweet on August 4 that the $60 million allocated for the UGP “is wrong at this juncture.”
The $7 million in grants that the current UGP has already awarded have, according to Cochran, been used for “underwhelming” causes. While the UGP has invested in a number of profitable businesses, he came to the conclusion that the existing performance did not justify giving the company $60 million plus $14 million to run for three years.
Creator of the decentralized video game Dark Forest Scott Sunarto believed that the UF’s objectives were in line with the protocol’s potential for development but that the proposal contained much too much “fluff.” The UF should focus its efforts on “protocol growth and R&D,” he advised.
If the current continuing straw poll passes, the proposal will be placed to a final vote on the Snapshot governance voting platform on August 8.
According to CoinGecko, UNI is currently trading at $9.04, up 1.4 percent in the last day.
