Uniswap Foundation Reveals Financials Ahead of Community Vote

According to CoinDesk, the Uniswap Foundation, the nonprofit organization behind Uniswap, recently disclosed its financial status just days before the community is set to vote on enabling and distributing fees autonomously. The Foundation's balance sheet revealed that it held $41.41 million in fiat and stablecoins, as well as 730,000 UNI tokens, at the end of the first quarter. The fiat and stablecoins are allocated for grant commitments and operational activities, while the UNI tokens are set aside for employee awards.

In addition, the Foundation has committed $4.34 million in new grants, disbursed $2.79 million previously, and designated UNI tokens for employee awards. Later this week, UNI token holders will vote on a new fee mechanism that could potentially shift some rewards from the decentralized exchange's liquidity providers to its token holders. If approved, which is likely based on previous snapshot polls, the proposal will transfer control of the mainnet UniswapV3Factory to a new V3FactoryOwner contract. The activation of the new fee distribution plan will be decided in a second vote, which has not yet been scheduled.

Meanwhile, the Uniswap Foundation is preparing to face potential enforcement action from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC recently issued a Wells notice to the Foundation, indicating its intention to recommend enforcement action against it in the future. The notice targets Uniswap's UNI and LP tokens, arguing that they are investment contracts and alleging that they violate securities laws. Uniswap Labs disputes these claims, asserting that the SEC lacks jurisdiction and that LP tokens are merely bookkeeping devices. Uniswap also contends that it does not meet the SEC's own definition of an exchange.