The Uniswap community is voting on a proposal to create a new legal entity in Wyoming named “DUNI.” This entity would handle Uniswap’s off-chain operations while leaving on-chain governance and the UNI token unaffected.
DUNI’s Purpose and Legal Protection
The proposal says that DUNI will let Uniswap interact with the real world without messing with its decentralized governance. It would take care of off-chain tasks like signing contracts, hiring service providers, and handling regulatory or tax requirements.
The proposal specifically says it will “preserve Uniswap’s decentralized governance structure while enabling engagement with the offchain world”. It also emphasizes that it will “protect governance participants from potential personal exposure to legal or tax liabilities resulting from a collective action by the Uniswap governance”, giving those involved in governance limited liability protection.
The first stage of voting, known as the temperature check, was conducted off-chain on Snapshot. This vote is meant to quickly test community sentiment and lasts five days. The proposal had to get at least 10 million UNI votes to pass this first stage, and no gas fees were needed. It got full support, showing the community is clearly behind it.
After this initial “temperature check,” it moved to the next stage: the official Governance Proposal vote on Uniswap’s Agora platform. This vote is final and binding. It runs for seven days, requires a minimum of 40 million UNI votes to pass, and participants have to pay gas fees. Unlike the off-chain temperature check, this vote is executed through smart contracts.
If it passes, the code runs automatically, this could mean transferring funds from the treasury or implementing other governance decisions. So far, 50,077,586 votes are in favor, already surpassing the required threshold. The final vote will wrap up on September 8.
Uniswap’s governance process is designed to keep things decentralized while allowing the protocol to interact with the off-chain world. The temperature check simply gauges community sentiment without triggering any on-chain actions. The on-chain vote directly triggers code execution and has real-world effects.
According to the proposal, this is “a critical step in de-risking engagement in Uniswap Governance without compromising decentralization”.
DUNI is set to create the groundwork for future governance improvements, including the possible introduction of protocol fees. By combining the ability to operate off-chain with legal safeguards for governance participants, it strengthens Uniswap’s governance system.
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