UNI
UNI is the governance token of the Uniswap DAO, the DAO governing the Uniswap protocol - the largest decentralised exchange in DeFi.
UNI holders maintain ultimate control through onchain voting. The token is immutable with a hardcoded 2% annual inflation cap. All core contracts (V2, V3, V4) are non-upgradeable with no pause/freeze functions.
UNI holders vote onchain via GovernorBravoDelegator, with execution through Timelock after a time delay.
All critical roles flow through governance-controlled contracts, ensuring UNI holders maintain ultimate control.
V2 Factory
feeToSetter is Timelock. Only feeToSetter can call setFeeTo() to change fee destination.
V3 Factory
Owner is V3FeeAdapter, whose feeSetter is Timelock. Only Timelock can change V3 protocol fees.
V4 PoolManager
Owner is Timelock. Only owner can call setProtocolFeeController().
UNI Token
Minter is set to Timelock. Since Timelock is controlled by GovernorBravoDelegator, all minting operations are controlled by UNI holders.
All Uniswap protocol contracts (V2 Pairs, V3 Pools, V4 PoolManager, Timelock) are non-upgradeable. Only GovernorBravoDelegator is upgradeable, controlled by Timelock.
Non-upgradeable Protocol Contracts
V2 Pairs use Create2 deployment. V3 Pools use NoDelegateCall protection. V4 PoolManager uses Singleton design. All are immutable once deployed.
Upgradeable Governance Contract
GovernorBravoDelegator is upgradeable, with the Admin role held by the Timelock. Any upgrade would require a governance vote by UNI holders.
Token contract is immutable with no proxy patterns, no delegatecall, no EIP-1967/UUPS patterns.
UNI has a hardcoded 2% annual inflation cap that cannot be changed. Minting is controlled by Timelock (hence UNI holders).
Inflation Cap
Mint can be called once per year, minting maximum 2% of total supply. mintCap is constant and cannot be changed.
Minting Control
Minter is set to Timelock, governed by UNI token holders through GovernorBravoDelegator.
No pause/freeze functions in V2 Pair, V3 Pool, or V4 PoolManager core contracts. No admin backdoors to steal funds. No emergency withdrawal or sweep functions.
No blacklist, whitelist, or pause functions in UNI token contract. Transfers cannot be censored. Standard ERC20 with no admin controls over transfers.
Protocol fees flow to governance-controlled destinations through TokenJar and FirePit burn mechanism. Treasury is entirely controlled by token holders.
Protocol fees across all Uniswap versions flow to governance-controlled destinations (TokenJar). Value accrual is via burn mechanism - a burn can be initiated by anyone who chooses to burn 4,000 UNI to claim accumulated protocol fees from TokenJar via FirePit.
V2 Fees
All V2 pools are active. Fees go to FeeTo address which is set to TokenJar.
V3 Fees
V3FeeAdapter collects protocol fees by calling collectProtocol and sends them to TokenJar. The 4,000 UNI threshold can be changed by governance via Timelock in FirePit. Only select V3 pools are currently active.
V4 Fees
V4 fees have not been activated yet, but in the future fees can be activated via governance process as described in Onchain Governance Workflow. To activate fees, Timelock will set the PoolManager's ProtocolFeeController address to a V4FeeAdapter contract which contains logic for fee collection and distribution.
Burn Mechanism
The 4,000 UNI threshold can be changed by governance via Timelock in FirePit.
The Uniswap Governance Timelock, often referred to as the Treasury, is entirely controlled by token holders. At the time of writing, it held approximately 264m UNI tokens. Funds held in Timelock require UNI governance proposals to execute transfers, ensuring tokenholder control.
Token holders control fee routing and burn threshold across all versions through Timelock-governed ownership.
V2 Fee Control
feeToSetter is set to Timelock on UniswapV2Factory. Only feeToSetter can call setFeeTo to change the fee destination. Protocol fees can only be enabled or disabled, not adjusted. Protocol fees on V2 pools cannot be adjusted on a per pool basis.
V3 Fee Control
Owner of UniswapV3Factory is V3FeeAdapter, whose owner is Timelock. V3FeeAdapter's owner can call setOwner on V3FeeAdapter, which passes the call through to UniswapV3Factory. Using this method, V3FeeAdapter's owner can change the owner of the UniswapV3Factory to a new V3FeeAdapter. The pools collecting protocol fees as well as the protocol fee percentage per pool can be changed by the pool owner via setFeeProtocol
V4 Fee Control
Owner of V4PoolManager is set to Timelock. Only owner can call setProtocolFeeController to change the fee controller. Protocol fees can be modified by the ProtocolFeeController through setProtocolFee.
DUNI (Decentralized Unincorporated Nonprofit Association) provides legal capacity for the DAO to engage in off-chain activities such as tax compliance, legal defense, and contract execution. At the time of writing, there are no specific offchain value accrual mechanisms explicitly defined.
UNI token source is publicly available on GitHub and verified on Etherscan. Uniswap V2, V3, V4, and UniswapX protocol contracts are open source and verified.
The UNI token contract source code (Uni.sol) is publicly available on GitHub and verified on Etherscan.
Uniswap V2, V3, V4, and UniswapX protocol contracts are open source on GitHub.
Aragon has not yet verified that 3rd parties do not hold more than 50% of voting power
Four vesting contracts distributed UNI to the Governance Timelock over four years, ending in September 2024. There are no future unlocks.
TreasuryVester Contracts
UNI tokens were initially minted to an EOA, which transferred the Treasury's portion to four vesting contracts in varying amounts. Each TreasuryVester contract was configured with: uni, recipient, vestingAmount, vestingBegin, vestingCliff, vestingEnd.
Core trademark rights (UNISWAP, UNI, UNISWAP LABS) are held by Universal Navigation Inc. (Uniswap Labs). DUNI has a limited, non-exclusive trademark license but no ownership transfer has occurred. Uniswap Labs operates a user interface and API, but the permissionless smart contracts allow anybody to operate one.
Core trademark rights related to Uniswap Labs, including UNISWAP, UNI, and UNISWAP LABS, are held and enforceable by Universal Navigation Inc. d/b/a Uniswap Labs ("Labs").
After the passing of the UNIfication proposal, in which Uniswap Labs entered into a service provider agreement with DUNI (formerly Uniswap Governance), Labs grants DUNI a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide trademark license to use the UNISWAP mark solely in connection with DUNI's business, subject to Labs' trademark usage guidelines and limited to the term of the agreement.
The agreement does not transfer ownership of the UNISWAP mark or Labs' other trademarks to DUNI or token holders.
Any broader assignment, or permanent or exclusive license, of Labs' trademarks to DUNI is explicitly deferred and would require a separate written agreement negotiated in the future.
Uniswap Labs operates a user interface and API, both of which are subject to Terms of Service. The permissionless nature of the Uniswap Protocol’s smart contracts means that any person or firm can operate an interface or API.
Uniswap Labs retains ownership of its pre-existing IP and trademarks. DUNI holds a limited, non-exclusive license to use the UNISWAP trademark for DUNI-related purposes, and generally receives rights to new deliverables under open-source licenses. No transfer of core Labs' IP has occurred; any broader licensing or assignment would require a separate agreement.
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