Uniswap is poised for explosive long-term growth as traditional financial assets aggressively migrate onto blockchain-based networks, according to a major macro research report from Standard Chartered. The banking giant has initiated coverage on the native governance token UNI, projecting a colossal ~3,400% surge from current price levels to hit $100 by the end of 2030.
Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s Global Head of Digital Assets Research, said Uniswap is well positioned to benefit as traditional financial firms increasingly explore tokenized real-world assets, such as stocks, bonds, and funds. As more assets move on-chain, the platform could capture a growing share of trading activity in the emerging digital asset economy.
For the near term, Kendrick expects UNI to reach $6.50 by the end of this year. He attributed the outlook to increasing institutional participation in decentralized finance and Uniswap’s role as a neutral trading venue that can be integrated into a wide range of tokenized financial markets.
As of writing, according to CoinMarketCap, Uniswap (UNI) surged 12.47% to $2.92 over the last 24 hours, significantly outperforming a flat broader crypto market and a stagnant Bitcoin. The strong move was primarily fueled by an organic explosion in protocol utility, with UNI’s 24-hour trading volume skyrocketing over 249% to $291.7 million to signify heightened decentralized exchange (DEX) activity. This dramatic spike in network usage was further supported by a modest capital rotation into alternative digital assets, as reflected by a rising Altcoin Season Index.
Why wall street’s on-chain move matters
Kendrick argued that Uniswap should be viewed as financial infrastructure rather than a consumer-focused trading platform. To illustrate the distinction, he compared Uniswap to YouTube and Coinbase to Netflix, suggesting that Uniswap provides the underlying network while other platforms build user-facing services on top of it. He added that the protocol is well positioned to support tokenized assets without requiring major changes to its core framework.
“For TradFi institutions, Uniswap should be viewed less as a retail DEX app and more as market infrastructure that TradFi can integrate with once tokenized assets scale and TradFi operators want to plug them into DeFi,” Kendrick said.
This perspective aligns closely with macro industry projections. Citigroup recently estimated that tokenized real-world assets could reach $5.5 trillion by 2030, with projections ranging from $2.7 trillion to $8.2 trillion depending on regulatory developments and the pace of adoption.
Furthermore, Uniswap’s historical reliability removes early-stage protocol risk for massive institutions. According to DeFiLlama data, shows that since its launch in 2018, the exchange has safely handled more than $3.7 trillion in lifetime trading volume and successfully generated roughly $5.6 billion in fees since its 2018 inception.
Tokenization could drive UNI demand
Standard Chartered estimates that as much as $2.7 trillion in assets could flow into decentralized finance protocols by the end of the decade. If that occurs, Kendrick said the amount of capital held in Uniswap’s liquidity pools could increase roughly 37-fold from current levels.
Part of the bank’s bullish outlook is tied to Uniswap’s upcoming “UNIfication” upgrade, which Kendrick expects will boost token burns as trading activity increases. The protocol’s circulating supply has already fallen to about 895 million tokens from its original one billion.
Signs of institutional adoption are also beginning to emerge. Fidelity Digital Dollar recently added liquidity to both Curve Finance and Uniswap, according to reports. On-chain analyst LytninCrypto described the move as Fidelity’s first known step into permissionless decentralized finance.
While the bank acknowledges that intense competition from hyper-specialized DEX niches and evolving compliance frameworks remain risks, the macro momentum favors established giants. As trillions in Treasuries, corporate bonds, and equity funds transition to public ledgers, Uniswap is solidifying its status as the foundational layer of modern financial routing.
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