Uniswap unveils own layer-2 network Unichain, UNI price soars 11%

• Uniswap has launched its own layer-2 network called Unichain.
• The OP Stack-powered L2 is in testnet and is designed to improve transaction speed, lower costs and boost liquidity.
• UNI token’s price surged to $8.14, its highest level in over two months

Uniswap, a leading decentralized exchange platform, has announced a major development for its network and ecosystem. The news helped Uniswap’s native token UNI to soar double digits on Thursday.

On Oct. 10, the Uniswap team revealed that the DEX platform was looking to launch its own layer-2 network on Ethereum. The L2, dubbed Unichain, is earmarked for DeFi.

Per the Uniswap Labs announcement, its a solution to transaction speed and costs for the exchange’s users. Also key to the launch is the question of liquidity.

Introducing @unichain — a new L2 designed for DeFi ✨

Fast blocks (250ms), cross-chain interoperability, and a decentralized validator network

Built to be the home for liquidity across chains pic.twitter.com/lqfJh6Ltio

— Uniswap Labs 🦄 (@Uniswap) October 10, 2024

Unichain is powered by Optimism’s OP stack and offers 1 second block times. Sub-block times of 200-250 milliseconds is also part of the development.

“This type of speed isn’t just great for UX, it also improves market efficiency and lowers value lost to MEV,” Uniswap Labs wrote on X.

Uniswap has partnered with OP Labs for native interoperability, with this enabling implementation of cross-chain messaging and cross-chain liquidity. The platforms plan to bolster the ecosystem’s connectivity with cross-chain swapping across the Uniswap interface and wallet.

According to details in today’s announcement, the Unichain testnet is live, while the mainnet will go live later in Q4, 2024.

UNI price soars 11%

Native Uniswap DEX token UNI is among the top gainers in the crypto market. This follows a price explosion for the cryptocurrency after the news emerged.

With most altcoins down on the day or struggling for upside, UNI spiked more than 11% to hit highs last seen in July 2024. The token’s surge to the multi-month high of $8.14 saw Uniswap rank as the top performing coin among top 100 coins by market cap.

UNI traded around $8.05 at the time of writing, still up by more than 9%.