The Uniswap Labs community has already begun considering a new proposal that would create a Uniswap foundation based in the United States (US), but first, it would cost $74 million.
The proposal has garnered mixed feedback from the community so far, with many praising the foundation’s plans to support and expand the Uniswap ecosystem, while others have balked at its hefty price tag.
The proposal of August 5 was shows by former Uniswap Labs chief of staff Devin Walsh and Uniswap Grant Program head Kenneth Ng, noting that the foundation’s main goal is to “support the decentralized development of the Protocol, reinvigorate governance and act as an advocate for Protocol’ according to Walsh.
If passed, the Uniswap Foundation (UF) will be incorporated in Delaware with Walsh as executive director, while Ng will become head of operations.
To make her vision a reality, Walsh requested $74 million in UNI tokens over three years, $60 million of which will be used for her own Uniswap Grant Program (UGP), while another $14 million will be used as a “budget mode’ to create a group of 12 people.
Uniswap is the world’s largest decentralized exchange (DEX) by trading volume. Uniswap V3, the third version of the DEX, has done $793.8 billion in volume in the last 24 hours, putting it on par with central exchanges (CEX) Huobi Global and KuCoin according on CoinGecko.
Uniswap founder Hayden Adams was proclaimed in a tweet on Aug. 4 that he was “very excited about this proposal.” Adams seemed confident the motion would pass when he added, “After this passes, the Foundation will be one more group working toward a future where the Protocol will not just survive but thrive!”
5/ The power of an ecosystem grows with each additional team that builds and works towards its success.
Imo, after this passes, the Foundation will be yet another group working towards a future where the Protocol won’t just survive – it will thrive!
— hayden.eth (@haydenzadams) August 4, 2022
While the proposal has so far received a fair amount of support from Adams and others in the Uniswap community, it has encountered a significant group of critics who say the price is too high.
Cinneamhain Ventures partner Adam Cochran shared his approval of UF’s goals, but added in an Aug. 4 tweet that $60 million for the UGP “is misplaced at this stage.”
1/17
So I don’t mind the proposal to create a Uniswap foundation – and I think it has a decent design.
But the $60 million in UGP is wrong at this stage.
The Uni Grants Program has used ~$7 million in grants so far and it has frankly been underwhelming.https://t.co/Ri3VNOBh6c
— Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) (@adamscochran) August 4, 2022
Cochran pointed out that the $7 million in grants already issued by the current UGP has been spent on “must-have” issues. He concluded that while there have been many worthwhile ventures that UGP has invested in, “I don’t think the current performance is worth ‘Give us $60 million + $14 million to run it for 3 years.’
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Co-creator of the decentralized game Dark Forest Scott Sunarto as well I felt that the UF goals were in line with the protocol’s development capabilities, but that there was too much “fluff” in the proposal. He suggested that UF focus efforts on “protocol development and R&D.”
The proposal will go to a final vote on the Snapshot governance voting platform on August 8 if the current straw vote passes.
UNI is up 1.4% in the last 24 hours, trading at $9.04 according on CoinGecko.
