The long-running Uniswap debate over how, or whether, the protocol should return value to UNI holders is about to be resolved.
The protocol’s “UNification” proposal has already surpassed quorum, with more than 69 million UNI tokens voting in favor and virtually unopposed as of Monday. Voting remains open until December 25, but the margin suggests the result is already largely decided.
At the heart of the proposal is a change that UNI holders have been waiting for years: activating the “rate change” protocol.
The proposal would redirect a portion of trading fees (about one-sixth) to a protocol-controlled fund. Those fees would then be used to burn UNI tokens, reducing supply as trading activity grows. Despite being the largest decentralized cryptocurrency exchange, Uniswap has so far diverted all trading fees to liquidity providers, leaving UNI as a governance-only token with no direct economic link to the platform’s activity.
The proposal is effectively transforming UNI from a purely governance token to an asset that accrues value by directly linking the value of the token to the exchange’s daily trading volume.
Based on current volumes, the fee change could translate to approximately $130 million a year flowing into the burning mechanism, as CoinDesk analyzed in November.
In addition to the rate change, the proposal includes a one-time burn of 100 million UNI from the treasury, worth approximately $940 million at current prices.
Uniswap processes nearly $150 billion in trading volume each month on more than 30 blockchains, according to data from DefiLlama.
Supporters argue that changing fees finally aligns Uniswap’s scale with its token economy, turning UNI into something closer to a cash flow-linked governance asset rather than a purely speculative one.
The proposal also reshapes Uniswap’s internal structure. Consolidates Uniswap Labs and Uniswap Foundation under a single operating and economic model, moving away from a grant-heavy governance approach toward a more execution-driven setup focused on protocol growth, distribution, and competitiveness.
