Uniswap debuts Ethereum L2 Unichain, UNI token surges 13%

Uniswap’s native governance token, UNI, surged 13% to $8.13 after Uniswap Labs debuted Unichain, its new Ethereum layer 2 solution. UNI is now trading above $8, up approximately 12% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data.

Developed on the OP Stack, Unichain is aimed at addressing key challenges facing the Ethereum ecosystem, such as high gas fees, suboptimal execution quality, and fragmented liquidity, the team shared in a whitepaper.

Unichain will leverage the Optimism Superchain to facilitate better liquidity access and decentralization across multiple layer 2 networks.

“This is a labor of love based on 6 years of designing and building in the DeFi space. We think what we’re building will be the best home for DeFi,” Hayden Adams, CEO of Uniswap Labs, expressed his enthusiasm upon Unichain’s launch.

To ensure transparency and security, Unichain employs a verifiable block building mechanism using a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE). The team said the approach helps mitigate the risk of Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) leakage and provides users with a more predictable and fair transaction experience.

Unichain also incorporates a trustless revert protection mechanism to strengthen its security. This feature ensures that users do not pay for failed/unsuccessful transactions.

In addition to verifiable block building, the new optimistic rollup solution integrates Flashbots’ Rollup-Boost technology to enable faster block times and reduced latency.

Future plans

The platform is set to support the Uniswap protocol versions V2 and V3 initially, with a preview of V4 expected by the end of the year.

The team also hinted at potential extensions to the Unichain Validators Network (UVN) in the future to enhance the security and fairness of the rollup’s sequencing process. Uniswap Labs wants to build Unichain as the “best place to access DeFi across rollups.”

“The internet of value can’t run on a single chain. Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap aims to scale by having many L2 chains that seamlessly interface with each other. We are excited about this vision, and aim to accelerate it,” Adams noted. “Unichain will be MIT licensed, and we hope to see our tech adopted by others.”