- Uniswap to merge Labs and Foundation under unified five-member governance board.
- Proposal activates protocol fees and plans 100M UNI token burn from treasury.
- New model ends product monetization and aligns revenue with UNI holder interests.
Uniswap Labs and the Uniswap Foundation have jointly proposed a comprehensive restructuring initiative called “UNIfication,” aiming to streamline governance, overhaul tokenomics, and consolidate operational leadership. The plan, released officially on November 11 following an accidental early publication, outlines a unified framework designed to reshape how the decentralized exchange manages growth, revenue distribution, and long-term ecosystem development.
Under the proposed changes, Uniswap Labs and the Foundation would merge their core operations, creating a single organization led by a five-member board. The leadership would include Hayden Adams, Devin Walsh, Ken Ng, Callil Capuozzo, and Hart Lambur. This consolidation marks the most significant organizational shift since the launch of the UNI token in 2020, setting a precedent for unified governance within decentralized protocols.
The UNIfication proposal introduces a permanent governance framework that would allocate an annual 20 million UNI budget from 2026 onward. These tokens would be distributed quarterly to fund ongoing development and ecosystem expansion.
Protocol Fees and Token Burn Mechanism
A central feature of the proposal is the activation of protocol fees that will channel part of the trading revenue into a UNI token burn system. This mechanism includes revenues from Uniswap’s Layer-2 network, Unichain, which will also contribute to the burn pool.
The proposal suggests a retroactive burn of 100 million UNI tokens from the treasury. This amount represents what could have been destroyed if fees had been active since the protocol’s inception.
Additionally, the plan introduces a new Protocol Fee Discount Auction model that allows traders to bid for lower fees. The system aims to capture extractable value from trading activity while adding to the overall burn rate.
Revised Business Model and Ecosystem Strategy
Uniswap’s proposed restructuring also extends to its commercial operations. The firm plans to end monetization across its primary products, including its interface, wallet, and API, by removing all listing fees. Future revenue strategies would instead be directly aligned with the interests of UNI holders through the fee and burn mechanisms.
If approved by the Uniswap DAO, the UNIfication proposal would introduce lasting changes to the platform’s governance and economics, aligning operational sustainability with token supply management and long-term network stability.
