Uniswap, the leading decentralized exchange (DEX), experienced a significant surge in trading volume on Thursday following the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Trading volume across all DEXs reached an impressive $11.2 billion, the highest daily figure since March 18.
Uniswap Dominates the Market
Uniswap especially benefited from this uptick, generating $5.5 billion in trading volume on Thursday alone. Nearly $3 billion of this volume was attributed to Ether, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain. This remarkable figure surpasses the trading volume of any other blockchain on which Uniswap operates and represented 48.9% of the total DEX trading volume for the day. The average trading volume for Uniswap over the past seven days was $2.8 billion.
Ethereum Trading Peaks
Ethereum, the largest blockchain by trading volume, recorded $4.4 billion on Thursday. The increased trading activity propelled Uniswap to the third spot in terms of fees generated over the past 24 hours, accumulating $4.9 million. These fees are distributed to users who provide liquidity on the DEX.
Revenue and Fees
Uniswap Labs, the company responsible for maintaining Uniswap, charges a 0.25% fee on trades conducted through its website, netting $661,000 in fees on Thursday. Since implementing this fee in October, Uniswap Labs has generated $30.6 million in revenue.
Governance and Regulation Challenges
In March, Devin Walsh, executive director of the Uniswap Foundation, proposed directing a portion of liquidity provider fees to UNI token holders. However, this proposal faced delays after Uniswap Labs received a Wells Notice from the SEC on April 10. Despite this regulatory challenge, Uniswap’s trading activity remained robust, with traders generating $152 billion since the notice was made public. However, the proposal has seen no official update since April 9.
The governance token for Uniswap, UNI, was recently trading at $9.08, down 1.8% in the last 24 hours and 17.8% since April 10. Despite regulatory hurdles, Uniswap’s trading activity and fee generation indicate strong user engagement and market presence.
