UniSwap V3 Goes Live on Ethereum Mainnet: Is UNI Due for a Surge? 

After months of waiting, decentralized finance protocol Uniswap announced that its V3 mainnet launch was live. 

Originally unveiled back in March, Uniswap’s third iteration aims to provide a more capital-efficient on-chain exchange through its latest feature of concentrated liquidity. 

Concentrated Liquidity 

In Uniswap V2, liquidity providers (LPs) were limited in that they had to adjust the price of their assets across a set price curve. The limited price range, coupled with high slippage fees, would disincentivize staking. But now, LPs can create their own customized price ranges, giving far more flexibility in setting a price curve. 

V3 also brings another important feature: multi-tiered fees. Previously, Uniswap gave LPs 0.3% per transaction — 0.25% when accounting for the fee protocol of 0.05%. 

Now, LPs are able to create pools at three fee levels of 0.05%, 0.30%, and 1%. The protocol stated that more fee levels may be added, subject to governance. 

Multi-tier Fees

Multi-tiered transaction fees will effectively reflect a trade’s perceived risk. What this accomplishes is that different types of assets will align themselves in specific fee tiers, based on the risk/reward for both swappers and liquidity providers.

“We expect low volatility assets (stable coins) will likely create the most substantive network effect in the lowest fee tier, as the price risk for holding these assets is very low… [T]he highest volatility assets will naturally gravitate towards a higher fee – as liquidity providers will be motivated to offset the cost risk of holding these assets for the duration of their position.”

The Uniswap team also stated that its latest version will launch later on layer-two protocol Optimistic Rollup, which will lower transaction costs. 

Uniswap Maintains $10 Billion in Weekly DEX Volume: More Room to Grow?

Amid the recent DeFi boom, Uniswap has seen its platform surge in popularity. Just two weeks prior, the protocol set a record $10 billion in weekly transaction volume. According to Dune Analytics, Uniswap currently has a weekly volume of $10.07 billion, and accounts for 56.4% of total decentralized exchange (DEX) market share. 

Surprisingly, UNI’s price action has remained relatively flat compared to its peers. Since its V3 launch yesterday, the protocol is down 3% to $42. In the same timeframe, other popular DeFi protocols such as Sushiswap and Curve are up 14% and 7%, respectively. It’s certainly possible that, with Uniswap’s V3 launch being announced earlier this year, the market had already priced in the positive catalyst. 

According to DeFiPulse, Uniswap’s total valued locked (TVL) currently sits at $7.16 billion. The protocol’s latest improvements will undoubtedly attract a broader user base — spurring further growth. 

Featured image from UnSplash