Uniswap is about to “turn on the switch.” with Hayden Adams
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Uniswap founder Hayden Adams joins us right as the UNIfication (Unification) proposal has moved to a final governance vote—a sweeping plan from Uniswap Labs + the Uniswap Foundation that would activate protocol fees, introduce a programmatic UNI burn, and realign how value accrues across the Uniswap ecosystem. We go deep on what’s actually inside the proposal (and what isn’t), why this moment feels like the end of one DeFi era and the start of another, and how years of “regulation by enforcement” shaped Uniswap’s product decisions—down to Hayden’s firsthand experience with debanking, legal pressure, and the chilling effect on builders. What we coverWhy UNIfication is being pitched as a once-in-a-cycle reset for UniswapThe real mechanics of the fee switch(es) (plural) and how the “token jar” burn design worksThe perceived tension between UNI token holders vs. equity/VC value capture and whether this vote changes thatWhy Uniswap wants to shift from “best frontend” to protocol-first infrastructure (APIs, ecosystem engineering, aggregator hooks)How Unichain fits into the broader strategy—and what “near-free trading” could mean in practiceGovernance backlash: is Uniswap becoming more centralized or more decentralized?Context: the vote is live! Hayden shared that the UNIfication proposal is now in the final governance vote stage.Subscribe for more founder-level conversations at the intersection of DeFi, regulation, and market structure.
Unichain is Live! What This Means For The Future of DeFi | Hayden Adams
Hayden Adams, creator of Uniswap, introduces UniChain, a new Layer 2 solution designed to enhance DeFi scalability and efficiency.
We explore UniChain’s innovations, including its decentralized sequencing mechanism, one-second block times, and seamless interoperability with Ethereum and the Optimism Superchain. Adams also discusses Uniswap v4’s impact on gas efficiency and how UniChain aims to reduce MEV extraction, benefiting users and liquidity providers.
A must-listen for anyone interested in the future of DeFi scalability and cross-chain integration!
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🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAIN https://bankless.cc/unichain
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🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle
⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum
🏦ONDO | INSTITUTIONAL GRADE FINANCE https://bankless.cc/Ondo
------ ✨ Mint the episode on Zora ✨ https://zora.co/collect/base:0x4be6cd4d402fed49eb2de95fbc8e737e8ffd3e7f/31
------ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro 5:38 Unichain’s Significance 11:43 Uniswap V4 & Unichain 18:56 Unichain's Interoperability 25:46 How Interoperability Works 31:21 Tech Behind Interop 46:33 Mempools, MEVs & Unichain 49:16 When Will Blocks Hit 250ms? 50:25 Unichain's Validation & Fees 56:02 Unichain Rollout 58:51 Unichain Developer Ecosystem 1:05:53 Hooks & Uniswap V4 1:12:29 Closing & Disclaimers
------ RESOURCES
Hayden Adams https://x.com/haydenzadams
Unichain https://unichain.org/
------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
Announcing Unichain | DeFi's Next Frontier?
Unichain Is Here! Joining us today is Hayden Adams of Uniswap and Karl Floersch of Optimism to explain the exciting new release and vision for the future of Ethereum and appchains.
------
🎬 DEBRIEF | Ryan & David unpacking the episode: https://www.bankless.com/debrief-announcing-uni
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🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle 🗣️TOKU | CRYPTO EMPLOYMENT https://bankless.cc/toku
------
✨ Mint the episode on Zora ✨ https://zora.co/collect/zora:0x0c294913a7596b427add7dcbd6d7bbfc7338d53f/76?referrer=0x077Fe9e96Aa9b20Bd36F1C6290f54F8717C5674E
------ TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 Start 00:05:51 Announcing Unichain! 00:11:51 How Will Unichain Work? 00:17:21 Superchain And Interoperability 00:19:38 Superchain Enhancements 00:26:12 Unichain User Experience 00:30:43 What About Other Superchains? 00:38:49 Unfragmenting The Fragmentation 00:43:58 Coordinating All Of Ethereum 00:49:08 UNI Token 00:52:47 Should DeFi Live On L1? 00:57:57 What Success Looks Like 01:01:15 The Path To Superchain 01:03:19 Release Dates
------ RESOURCES
Unichain: https://unichain.org/
Hayden: https://x.com/haydenzadams
Karl: https://x.com/karl_dot_tech
------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
"We Plan to Win" - Hayden Adams on Uniswap vs. the SEC
Crypto's OG darling exchange, Uniswap is under attack after it received an enforcement notice on Wednesday, April 10th, 2024 from none other than Gensler's anti-crypto SEC.
Uniswap’s CEO Hayden Adams joins us on the podcast to share what happened, how they plan to fight, and what the industry can do to support.
------ 🦄DEFEND UNI | FREE MINT https://zora.co/collect/base:0x3cc5c167ff67ff31f8bee4b5523c684ce1172bfd/1
------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:
🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://k.xyz/bankless-pod-q2
🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle
🏙️ CONSENSUS | SAVE 20% WITH CODE BANKLESS https://go.coindesk.com/4cBztCA
🏠 CASA | SECURE YOUR GENERATIONAL WEALTH https://bankless.cc/Casa
🔗CELO | CEL2 COMING SOON https://bankless.cc/Celo
🗣️TOKU | CRYPTO EMPLOYMENT SOLUTION https://bankless.cc/toku
------ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro 3:15 Uniswap’s SEC Wells Notice 5:02 Comms Between SEC & Uniswap 7:23 Is $UNI a Security? 11:12 Supreme Court 13:13 Consequences of U.S. Crypto Entrepreneurs 22:01 Uniswap Labs vs. Uniswap Protocol 31:35 How Far Will the SEC Go? 33:55 Why Uniswap Is Important 39:08 Who Protects Investors More? 42:25 Are Hayden & Uniswap Ready? 43:16 Will Crypto Win? 43:29 How to Support 45:08 Closing & Disclaimers
------ RESOURCES
Hayden Adams https://twitter.com/haydenzadams
Uniswap https://twitter.com/Uniswap
------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
UniswapX Revealed: A Game-Changer for DeFi
It's ETHCC time, the Ethereum Community Conference where groundbreaking announcements are made. And ahead of the conference, Uniswap Labs has already released their latest protocol, Uniswap X, a game-changing addition to the Uniswap ecosystem. Uniswap X is the missing piece that makes Uniswap the ultimate destination for token swappers.
In this episode, we have Hayden Adams, the creator of Uniswap, revealing the ins and outs of Uniswap X. This protocol ensures competitive order execution in DeFi, safeguarding swappers from MEV extractors, arbitrageurs, and front runners, so that everyday users can secure the best possible deals.
Discover how Uniswap X employs a Dutch auction to maximize returns, while reducing bridge risks and enhancing efficiency in DeFi trading.
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https://bankless.cc/MetaMask
⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM
https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum
🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK
https://bankless.cc/Mantle
👾POLYGON | VALUE LAYER OF THE INTERNET https://polygon.technology/roadmap
------
Timestamps
0:00 Intro 4:30 Uniswap is Shipping 7:30 Decentralizing 10:25 Competitive Marketplaces 14:50 What’s New in UniswapX? 19:30 Value to the Users 23:08 What is Uniswap Now? 26:14 Formalizing New Players 30:55 Pushing the Ecosystem 36:00 How UniswapX Works 42:30 User Preferences 48:30 Changing MEV 52:45 Cross-Chain Swapping 1:00:00 Bridge Difficulties 1:05:45 Harnessing Complexity 1:09:13 The Beta Launch 1:14:15 More on the Way
----- Resources
Hayden Adams: https://twitter.com/haydenzadams?s=20
UniswapX: https://twitter.com/Uniswap/status/1680955621343129600?s=20
------
Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
Uniswap Founder Hayden Adams on How ‘Hooks’ Make v4 Different - Ep. 508
The announcement of the upcoming launch of Uniswap v4 sparked fresh versions of old debates. Is it OK for DeFi’s leading DEX to not be fully open source at launch? What counts as composability and what counts as plagiarism? Is Uniswap’s dominance a threat to decentralization? Founder Hayden Adams joins the show to respond to the critics and explain the novel features of Uniswap v4.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Show highlights:
how Uniswap was born and how it has evolved since 2018
how the SushiSwap vampire attack was a win for Uniswap
whether the new version of Uniswap brings it closer to the true ethos of Ethereum
what the problems were with the previous fee model and how the new v4 approaches fee tiers
an explanation of “hooks,” the most important feature of the new code
what Hayden thinks the most common uses of hooks will be
how v4’s time-weighted average market maker (TWAMM) feature works
whether Hayden is worried that hooks will be engineered to do rug pulls
what Hayden thinks about v4’s new “singleton” approach
how EIP-1153 (if implemented) will make Uniswap v4 more efficient
when Hayden estimates that the v4 code will be deployed
why Uniswap decided to go with a four-year business license
Hayden’s response to allegations that Uniswap plagiarized Crocswap for its v4 code
whether there’s a risk that U.S. authorities blacklist certain transactions on v4
whether it is possible to add KYC and AML compliance into v4 pools
why Hayden is sad about the U.S. approach to regulating crypto
why he believes that Uniswap will not become a centralizing force
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com
TOKEN2049
OKX
Guest:
Hayden Adams, founder of Uniswap
Links
Unchained:
Uniswap Releases Draft Code for V4
Uniswap V3 Forks Are Now Legal After BSL Expiry
Liquidity Pools: How DEXes Allow Trading
Uniswap: Our Vision for Uniswap v4
EIP-1153: Transient storage opcodes
v4-core/LICENSE at main · Uniswap/v4-core · GitHub
Frax Finance’s Sam Kazemian tweet
TWAMM - Paradigm
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Announcing Uniswap V4 With Hayden Adams
Hayden Adams joins us to announce the release of Uniswap V4! He walks us through innovations new to Uniswap like hooks and singleton contracts in addition to a new upgrade that can lower gas costs up to 90%.
To launch V4 we need your help, the community, to contribute your opinions and decide the fate of this new protocol.
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👾STADER LABS | ETHX LIQUID STAKING https://bankless.cc/Stader
⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum
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🎮IMMUTABLE | GAMING ECOSYSTEM https://bankless.cc/Immutable
🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle
------ TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Intro 5:56 Introducing Hayden 7:37 V4 Launch Date? 9:12 What Goes Live Today? 10:28 How Far Has Uniswap Come? 12:14 Can Uniswap Get Any Bigger? 13:52 Are Centralized Exchanges Competitors? 16:28 Why Do We Need V4 20:10 V4's Flagship Feature 24:47 Introducing, TWAM 28:29 A New Uniswap Fee Structure 33:57 How V4 Solves Efficiency 38:27 Singleton Contracts 41:08 The Gas Refund 43:29 The Hook Centric Roadmap 46:59 What Rollups Will Uniswap Live On? 51:34 Who Will Be Building Hooks 58:20 Fees On Withdrawals 1:05:35 Why Hooks? 1:10:18 Will Liquidity Migrate To V4? 1:16:34 How V4 Is Like a Centralized Exchange 1:20:47 Is This The Last Uniswap Upgrade? 1:22:38 Has Defi Peaked? 1:30:10 How To Get Started On V4
------ RESOURCES: Uniswap V4 Blog Post: https://blog.uniswap.org/uniswap-v4
Hayden Adams: https://twitter.com/haydenzadams Uniswap Labs: https://twitter.com/Uniswap
Hayden Last on Bankless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fqJzS08pPc
------ Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
Hayden Adams on Uniswap's Announcement?! | State of the Nation
Just in time for NFT NYC, Hayden Adams comes to Bankless to reveal some secret announcement!
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⚡️ MAKER DAO | THE DAI STABLECOIN https://bankless.cc/MakerDAO
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------ Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 5:15 Feelings Check-In 11:30 Uniswap Labs vs. Uniswap Protocol 23:47 Huge Uniswap Announcement 31:34 NFTs & Uniswap 36:15 Uniswap Airdrop?! 41:06 Is Genie Pivoting? 43:54 The Future of Uniswap Labs 50:18 Closing & Disclaimers
------ Resources:
Hayden on Twitter: https://twitter.com/haydenzadams
Announcement: https://uniswap.org/blog/genie
----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures
Hayden Adams Explains Uniswap and the Rise of DeFi
There's an irony with crypto. While so much of it is ostensibly about circumventing legacy finance, many of the most important pieces of crypto infrastructure are centralized financial entities. For example, the newly public Coinbase holds fiat currency and is subject to numerous regulations. Enter decentralized exchanges. A new breed of trading venues has been built to enable trading directly upon a blockchain, allowing assets to be exchanged without any custodial requirements, permission, or even accounts. It's a totally different model of trading and market structure. On this episode, we speak with Hayden Adams, the creator of the Uniswap Protocol, which powers the world's largest decentralized exchange, to explain how it all works.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
59 - Uniswap | Hayden Adams
Hayden Adams is the inventor of Uniswap, the decentralized trading protocol. ------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/ 🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/ 🗞️ GET THIS EPISODE'S DEBRIEF: https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/exclusive-debrief-uniswap-with-hayden ------
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🦄 UNISWAP | DECENTRALIZED EXCHANGE http://bankless.cc/uniswap
🔀 KWENTA | SYNTHETIC ASSET EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/kwenta ------ Bankless Podcast #59 - Uniswap Guest: Hayden Adams
Hayden Adams is the creator of Uniswap, the decentralized trading protocol and DAO. Before inventing DeFi's largest asset exchange, he was laid off from his mechanical engineering job in the summer of 2017. Excited by Ethereum and Vitalik's blog post on automated market making, he learned to code smart contracts using Solidity.
Uniswap's V1 Mainnet launch came in the middle of the crypto bear market in November 2018. Since then, it has experienced exponential growth and traction, with liquidity providers like MakerDAO bolstering Uniswap's early ecosystem. Uniswap V2 brought pivotal upgrades to the user experience, bug fixes, and improvements to the Oracle architecture.
From its genesis, Uniswap has emphasized the decentralized, permissionless properties of Ethereum. Uniswap's tools enable anyone to create a liquidity pool to exchange on, and it has become the de facto hub of DeFi as a sandbox for the 'long tail' of endless decentralized assets. Uniswap's openness, functionality, and legitimacy have allowed it to rise to its current position as a DeFi staple.
On September 16th, 2020, Uniswap launched its UNI token with a widely distributed airdrop to each Ethereum address that had interacted on the Uniswap platform – over 500,000 accounts. This drop exemplifies DeFi's promises of wealth distribution, communal equity, and decentralized governance.
On March 23rd, 2021, Uniswap announced V3 to go live on Ethereum mainnet in May of 2021. The most significant change in this upgrade is concentrated liquidity, which allows individual liquidity providers to control where their liquidity is allocated along the price curve for a given asset pair. This allows freedom for infinite liquidity providing strategies and presents a flexibility that incentivizes an optimized trading curve.
In this 2.5 hour episode, Hayden walks us through the entirety of Uniswap, from its genesis to its present state and beyond.
------ Resources:
Uniswap https://uniswap.org/
Hayden on Twitter https://twitter.com/haydenzadams?s=20
V0 Birthday Blog: https://medium.com/uniswap/uniswap-birthday-blog-v0-7a91f3f6a1ba
V3 Announcement post: https://uniswap.org/blog/uniswap-v3/
Vitalik's Market Maker Blog Post: https://vitalik.ca/general/2017/06/22/marketmakers.html
------ This Week on Bankless:
🧢 Weekly Action Recap (4/3): https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/-rollup-visa-on-eth-snl-nft-skit 🗞️Weekly Rollup (4/2): https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/ethereum-visa-weekly-recap-526 🚨 Alpha Alert: Fei Protocol: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/-alpha-alert-fei-protocol-genesis 🦄 The Story of PleasrDAO (3/31): https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/xykan-ethereum-story ⚒️ How to Stream Money (3/30): https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/how-to-stream-money 🏴 SotN w/ Crypto Bobby (3/30): https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/-sotn-40-get-a-job-in-crypto-rob
----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Uniswap is a Bankless Sponsor.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures