What is Uniswap (UNI)?
UNI is the governance token of Uniswap, the automated market maker launched on Ethereum in 2018 by Hayden Adams. Uniswap Labs introduced the token in September 2020, sending part of the supply directly to past users and liquidity providers.
- Type
- DEX governance token
- Launched
- 2020
- Consensus
- Secured by Ethereum
- Max supply
- No fixed cap (1 billion genesis, up to 2% yearly by governance)
- Swap network
- Ethereum
- Sector (Messari)
- Exchange
How Uniswap works
Instead of an order book, Uniswap uses liquidity pools where prices follow a mathematical formula and traders swap against deposited reserves, while liquidity providers earn a share of the fees. UNI holders govern the protocol, and a proposal approved in late 2025 switched on protocol fees that are used to burn UNI.
What UNI is used for
UNI is used to vote on or delegate votes in Uniswap governance, which controls fee settings and the community treasury. It is also a common trading pair and a DeFi collateral asset across Ethereum and layer-2 networks.
UNI supply
One billion UNI were minted at genesis. Governance can mint up to 2% more per year, while protocol fees and a one-time burn of 100 million UNI from the treasury have removed tokens from supply.
Before you swap UNI
UNI is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum, so keep some ETH on hand to pay gas when moving it afterwards. Versions bridged to layer-2 networks are not interchangeable with Ethereum UNI without a bridge.