By Michael Scott
Uniswap’s community expressed their desire to deploy on the BNB blockchain. The vote aims at expediting the deployment of Uniswap on Binance’s owned blockchain via the Wormhole bridge. The move would enable Uniswap to derive early mover advantages before the copycats launch identical products.
Uniswap Members Support BNB Deployment
The decision by Uniswap’s community members to deploy the leading decentralized crypto exchange (DEX) on BNB ends the political battle occurring behind the scenes. The vote left Andreesen Horowitz (a16z), a renowned venture capital supporter in Silicon Valley, as the lone opposition.
The vote undertaken by Uniswap DAO featured the UNI holders assessing the protocol changes. This week’s vote concluded on Friday, February 10. The vote results revealed that 66% supported the DEX deploying onto the BNB chain, while 34% expressed their objection.
The vote saw a16z emerge to lead the dissenting members. As the largest investor in Uniswap, a16z fronted one of the companies within the DEC companies – LayerZero utilizations as the preferred cross bridge. The vote results replicated a previous community poll where LayerZero was proposed to assume the official channel for the Ethereum-BNB bridge service. The bridge service involves a catalyst infrastructure to facilitate Uniswap’s governance process and sustain operations on the BNB chain.
Wormhole Ratification Despite Loud Dissent
The follow-up vote from February 2 to 10 saw the Wormhole ratification as the Uniswap official partner. The ratification of LayerZero’s competitor turned into a contentious exercise. The lead dissenter, a16z, questioned Wormhole’s security via a community forum post. The post attracted criticism of LayerZero suffering several deficiencies.
Porter Smith supported a16z position challenging Wormhole’s capability of securing and decentralized bridging options. The a16z Crypto partner cited the $326 million exploit as the primary factor in the dissenting opinion. The a16z representatives were concerned with the DAO process and the criterion utilized to weigh various bridge options. The dissenters suggested the need for the community to reconsider the vote upon completing formal reviews of various bridge contenders.
The 15 million dissenting votes by A16z failed to sway other community members from BNB deployment. Nevertheless, the no-vote triggered questions on the influence on the broader crypto community within Uniswap’s governance system.
Uniswap Race Against Business License Expiry
Compound lending founder Robert Leshner voted in support of BNB Chain deployment. His support for the BNB chain was notable, given his significant investment in LayerZero. Leshner explained that contentious votes portray genuine diversity of opinion within the Uniswap community. He added that the dissenting voice opened a healthy platform for beneficial debate. He lauded the a16z input to question Wormhole as it prevented Uniswap from rubber stamping and steamrolling projects without factoring counter-interests in the community.
The conclusion of the vote portrays a firm racing against time in launching the version three platform onto the BNB blockchain by March 31. The DEX rush is prompted by the awareness of the looming expiry of its business license. Its expiry could enable a copycat clone and replicate Uniswap’s v3 software to reinforce competitors. In particular, Uniswap seeks to avoid the recurrence of vampire attacks witnessed in 2022, where SushiSwap DEX executed line-for-line replication of Uniswap’s open-source code to appeal to users.
Leshner indicated that the looming expiry of the business license prompted the decision. He indicated the possibility of voting differently if Uniswap deployment would have another five months. He regretted that further delay to the Uniswap deployment jeopardized Uniswap’s market position amid fierce competition.
Meanwhile, Uniswap v3 is on Ethereum mainnet, among other blockchains, with a daily trading volume exceeding $1 billion. Version three represents the latest Uniswap DEX protocol iteration and a pioneer in the automated market maker platform. The now ubiquitous technology facilitates users in swapping among various cryptos without reliance on intermediaries.
The deployment of BNB Chain will subject Uniswap to fierce rivalry from PancakeSwap.
Today, PancakeSwap commands the largest dominance of a DEX on the blockchain established by crypto exchange Binance.