Uniswap recorded its biggest daily UNI burn under the UNIfication mechanism as Hayden Adams renewed his bullish view on DeFi and Ethereum.
Summary
- Uniswap recorded a new daily high after 134,000 UNI tokens were burned in 24 hours.
- Hayden Adams said he is “very bullish on DeFi and Ethereum” despite market weakness.
- Uniswap extended fundraising and UNI merges BNB Chain, Polygon, and Celo with Proposal 96.
Hayden Adams, the creator of Uniswap, said that X is “working very hard on DeFi and Ethereum,” while comparing the current market to the bear market of 2018 that preceded the launch of Uniswap.
Adams said Ethereum sentiment was also very low during that cycle, but developers used this time to create products that later helped drive the DeFi summer of 2020.
Uniswap Burn Hits Record Daily Rate
The UNI Burn Bot reported that 134,000 UNI tokens were burned in a single 24-hour period, setting a new high for UNIfication programs. The record came one day after trackers showed strong burn activity related to fees collected through Uniswap’s on-chain contracts.
Under UNIification, protocol fees are first collected and stored in TokenJar contracts. Users who want to claim those funds must burn an equivalent amount of UNI through a contract called Firepit. After the process is completed, the burned UNI is sent to the Ethereum address 0xdead, removing the tokens from circulation forever.
Uniswap Labs and the Uniswap Foundation have approved the UNIfication plan for late 2025. After the proposal was announced, UNI rose from $4.95 to $9.25 within one week, based on market-quoted figures for the proposal.
Proposition 96 Expands Chainsaw Burning
In May, Uniswap’s governance approved Proposal 96, which extended the cost pooling and burning of UNI to BNB Chain, Polygon, and Celo. The decision increased the number of chains using the burning method to 11, including Ethereum.
The expansion is important because Uniswap now operates in more than 40 chains. Data cited by Uniswap shows that the protocol holds $2.86 billion in total locked value. Ethereum accounts for $1.96 billion of that value, while Base holds $416 million and Arbitrum holds $198 million.
Since its launch, Uniswap has generated $5.59 billion in aggregate capital. However, the amount directed to UNI owners through the burn method stands at $14.15 million in total. Annual fees are currently close to $882 million, according to figures provided.
Product Updates Targeted at Everyday Users
Uniswap Labs also announced four product updates focused on user access across chains. Updates include in-app wallets, cross-chain exchanges, portfolio tracking, and multichain portfolio views.
The company said all four features are live and have zero transaction fees for swaps. Uniswap Labs also said that its internal research found that 49.9% of new traders at Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Base exchanges in 2026 made their first exchange on Uniswap.
Despite the recent record burn and new product issuance, UNI is still trading at $2.47. The token remains more than 92% below its May 2021 all-time high of $44.97.
UNI’s market capitalization stands at $1.54 billion, with 622.71 million tokens in circulation. The latest data puts the burning process at the center of Uniswap’s current token strategy, while Adams’ comments include the protocol’s latest work in the long DeFi build cycle.
