Uniswap Foundation targets $62M in additional funding

Decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap is seeking an on-chain vote to approve the second tranche of the $74 million funding for its developer, Uniswap Foundation.

According to the Sept. 27 announcement, the second tranche of funding, with a buffer of 10% for price volatility, is worth an estimated $62 million and will be decided via an on-chain vote on Oct. 4. If approved, the funds will be used for operations and research grants. The Uniswap Foundation is responsible for growing core protocol metrics, building a pipeline for innovation and aligning incentives for stakeholders of the popular DEX.

Developers explained that over the next year, they plan to build a software development kit for Uniswap v4 and support its subsequent migration, having already received $17.3 million in the first tranche for this target. The Uniswap Foundation team said the funding request was split in two to allow more time to register its legal entity and receive nonprofit 501(c)4 status from the Internal Revenue Service, which developers say was finalized in spring before receiving the larger lump sum payment.

The Uniswap Foundation disclosed that in the last 12 months, a total of $4.8 million was spent on research grants, $3.15 million for operations and a $1.29 million loss on capital from the market decline of UNI (UNI) tokens between the initial governance proposal and receipt of funds. “The UF has $53.2M in grants capital remaining to disburse. We plan to disburse $10-$15M per year, with the amount disbursed per year increasing over time,” developers wrote.