Bell Curve Breaking Down Uniswap’s Fee Switch and UNIfication Proposal | Hayden Adams & Jesse Walden
23 snips
Nov 26, 2025 
Hayden Adams, the visionary founder of Uniswap Labs, joins forces with investor Jesse Walden, founder of Variant, to dive into Uniswap's game-changing fee switch and the innovative UNIfication proposal. They discuss regulatory pressures shaping their strategy, the potential of retroactive token burns, and the idea of removing front-end fees to spur user growth. By aligning protocol incentives and exploring new legal frameworks, they set the stage for Uniswap's future and its influence on the crypto industry.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Uniswap's Meteoric Rise
- Hayden recounts Uniswap's meteoric growth in DeFi Summer 2020 and the launch of the UNI token.
- He describes how rapid adoption led to the protocol becoming central infrastructure for many projects.
Building Under Regulatory Pressure
- Hayden describes constraints during the Gensler era, where Uniswap Labs limited its governance participation.
- He explains that enforcement focused on prominent, legitimate US actors which hampered normal protocol development.
Fee Switch Has Always Existed
- Hayden explains the fee switches have existed since launch but were never activated by governance.
- He frames Unification as a joint Labs/Foundation effort to finally activate and responsibly manage protocol fees.