Uniswap Labs Officially Launches Layer-2 Network ‘Unichain’ on Optimism’s OP Stack

Unichain, which operates on Optimism’s OP Stack, is designed to offer faster and cheaper transactions compared to Ethereum’s mainnet, aligning with the broader trend of layer-2 solutions improving blockchain efficiency. The network has been optimized specifically for decentralized finance (DeFi) and aims to serve as “the home for liquidity across chains,” according to Uniswap Labs.

A Strategic Move: Enhancing User Experience and Generating Revenue

For Uniswap Labs, the launch of Unichain serves two key purposes:

1. Enhancing the user experience on Uniswap and similar DeFi platforms by reducing transaction costs and increasing efficiency.
2. Creating a new revenue stream through network fees, with approximately 20% of Unichain’s revenue going directly to the company, according to a Uniswap Labs representative.

Unichain has been in testing since October 2024 and is currently categorized as a “stage-1” rollup, meaning that while it incorporates some elements of decentralization, it still retains centrally controlled safeguards during this initial phase.

Unichain’s Unique Features: Differentiating from Other Layer-2s

Built using Optimism’s OP Stack, Unichain joins a growing ecosystem of layer-2 networks that leverage Optimistic Rollup technology to enhance Ethereum’s scalability. Other notable projects utilizing the OP Stack include:

• Coinbase’s Base
• Kraken’s Ink
• World’s World Chain
• Sony’s Soneium

While many layer-2 networks have emerged in recent years, Uniswap co-founder Hayden Adams believes that most will be tailored to specific use cases rather than function as general-purpose blockchains.

“We are anticipating a world of many, many different use cases, of which trading is a small subset,” Adams said in an interview.

In collaboration with Ethereum research and development firm Flashbots, the Uniswap team introduced a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) on Unichain. The TEE functions as a secure environment for sensitive transactions, enhancing DeFi capabilities by enabling more advanced trades and faster transaction finality.

“We want Unichain to be a chain that is good for liquidity creation, good for trading, and good for applications that need access to liquidity while not necessarily being co-located,” Adams explained.

Uniswap’s Commitment to the Optimism Superchain Ecosystem

As part of its alignment with Optimism’s “Superchain” ecosystem, Uniswap Labs has agreed to contribute 2.5% of Unichain’s gross revenue—or 15% of net revenue, whichever is greater—to the Optimism Collective.

The Optimism Collective, a group of individuals and companies overseeing the development of Optimism’s rollup technology, has struck similar revenue-sharing agreements with other projects, including Coinbase and Kraken.

Coinbase and Kraken received grants of Optimism’s OP governance tokens from Optimism Foundation, which manages a treasury dedicated to ecosystem growth in return for integrating with Optimism’s network. Coinbase secured a grant of up to 118 million OP tokens, while Kraken was allocated 25 million OP tokens.

Uniswap Labs declined to comment on whether it had reached a similar agreement with the Optimism Foundation.

Validator Participation and Network Transparency

Ahead of Unichain’s mainnet launch, Uniswap Labs announced that 65% of the chain’s net revenue will be allocated to the Unichain Validation Network (UVN)—a group responsible for validating and securing the blockchain.

The UVN aims to provide another layer of transparency and security, ensuring a more decentralized verification process.

“As a project that has always prioritized decentralization, we are actually reducing the role and power of the sequencer relative to other projects that still run more centralized sequencers,” Adams noted.

With Unichain now live, Uniswap Labs has taken a significant step toward improving liquidity and efficiency in DeFi while strategically positioning itself within the expanding Optimism ecosystem.