Uniswap Labs’ front-end fees exceed $50 million

Uniswap Labs, the firm behind the development of the Uniswap decentralized exchange (DEX), has reportedly collected Ethereum Uniswap interface fees worth more than $50 million since October last year.

At the beginning of the year, the fees generated over $3 million for Uniswap Labs compared to $50.66 million recorded at the time of this publication. Uniswap Labs initially capped the interface fees at 0.15% in October 2023, but increased the fee to 0.25% in April this year, marking a 13-fold jump in the cumulative fees collected year-to-date – $3.7 million on January 1st to its current figures.

Uniswap Labs collects more than $50 million in front-end fees

The revenue increase from the Ethereum Uniswap interface fees has allowed Uniswap to cement its position as the largest decentralized exchange (DEX). Data from Coingecko indicates Uniswap V3 on the Ethereum mainnet commands a market share of 14.8%. 

In July, decentralized exchanges across all networks facilitated swap transactions worth $154 billion. Out of the total swap volume, Uniswap accounted for swap transactions worth $54 billion, which is more than 35% of the total swap volume. 

Users could bypass these swap fees by using DEX aggregators like Paraswap, Cowswap, and 1inch. Despite the existence of these DEX aggregators, Uniswap gained popularity among DeFi users in July, commanding more than 25% of total DEX activities compared to the DEX aggregators. 1inch, the most used DEX aggregator, only accounted for less than 20% of DEX activity in the same timeframe.

Earlier this year, Uniswap community members rejected a governance proposal meant to initiate modifications to the ecosystem’s free mechanism. 

Uniswap Foundation shares Q2 financial report

The Uniswap Foundation also unveiled its financials for the second quarter, which revealed the platform had cash and stablecoins with few UNI tokens. According to the report , the Uniswap Foundation holds cash and stablecoins worth $36.81 million, along with a reserve of 680,000 UNI tokens.

The cash and stablecoin holdings are earmarked for settling operational expenses and grant-making. The foundation intends to sequester $10.69 million for operational costs and $26.12 million for grant-making to support the ecosystem until 2025. On the other hand, the UNI tokens are put aside to cater to employee incentives.

The Uniswap Foundation also approved new grants worth $3.2 million and distributed $2.5 million from other previous grant commitments. Notably, operating expenses for the quarter settled at $1.6 million, with a small portion allocated towards marketing and advertisements (8.2%). 47.9% was directed to settling payroll, and the remaining 35.2% was directed to paying professional fees.