Uniswap Labs to Charge 0.15% Fee on Certain Tokens

The entity behind the decentralized exchange plans to charge a flat fee on a limited set of tokens to “sustainably fund operations.”

Uniswap, the largest decentralized exchange (DEX) by trading volume, plans to charge a fee on certain tokens beginning tomorrow.

In an announcement on Monday, Uniswap founder Hayden Adams said that Uniswap Labs would introduce a 0.15% swap fee on certain tokens on its web app and wallet starting tomorrow.

I work in crypto because of the immense positive impact I believe it can have on the world, removing gatekeepers and increasing access to value and ownership.

I’m proud of the ways @Uniswap Labs has contributed to that effort and want to make sure we’re creating sustainable…

— hayden.eth 🦄 (@haydenzadams) October 16, 2023

“This is separate from the Uniswap Protocol fee switch, which is voted on by UNI token governance,” said Adams.

According to Uniswap’s website, the interface fee will be applicable to limited tokens, which includes ETH, USDC, WETH, USDT, DAI, WBTC, agEUR, GUSD, LUSD, EUROC, XSGD.

The fees will apply only to trades on Uniswap’s web and mobile interfaces, meaning it won’t apply to the underlying protocol smart contracts. According to data from The Block, around 35% to 40% of trades currently take place on Uniswap’s front end interface.

about 35-40% of trades on uniswap are being done thru their front end

imagine if they did this when it was 90% in 2020 lol pic.twitter.com/YBFIY06gu0

— beetle (@1kbeetlejuice) October 17, 2023

Over the last 24 hours, Uniswap V3 on Ethereum saw $810 million worth of trading volume, excluding major stablecoin pairs, which would put the daily fee revenue over $380,000.

“This interface fee is one of the lowest in the industry, and it will allow us to continue to research, develop, build, ship, improve, and expand crypto and DeFi,” Adams said on X.

Earlier this year, members of the Uniswap decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) rejected a proposal to activate fees on Uniswap. The vote was neck and neck until the last minutes, and the protocol could still enable fees if another governance vote approves the move.

Meanwhile, the introduction of a front-end fee didn’t sit well with some market participants, particularly UNI token holders who won’t receive any of the fees generated.

Yep, the desire to pump uni labs equity value over UNI token has been obviously for awhile but folks dont want to see it

Their entire legal strategy is to never add fees to uniswap unless they can permission it. But UNI token doesnt own permissioned things, so only labs profits

— Block Enthusiast 🔥🌱🌻🌪️ (@BlockEnthusiast) October 16, 2023

Others commended the new measure as a positive for Uniswap’s continued development, and as one that would encourage more informed users to move away from the front end interface.

“Not sure I fully understand why people are frustrated about Uniswap implementing fees on the frontend. You don’t have to use it to interact with the protocol. They are building out a good UX on public infra and want to get paid for it. Anyone else is free to do that too,” said AJ Warner, Chief Strategy Officer at Offchain Labs, on X.