The popular decentralized exchange Uniswap has seen a significant increase in trading volume on layer 2 blockchains compared to two years ago. Currently, Uniswap contributes around 37% of the total trading volume on layer 2 while operating on the Ethereum blockchain.
Researcher Tom Wan from 21.co noted that Uniswap’s L2 volumes have grown by over 650% in the past 24 months, reaching over $30 billion this year from $4 billion in 2022. Wan predicts that this trend will continue to strengthen with the launch of more quality protocols on layer 2 networks like Arbitrum, Coinbase’s Base, and Optimism.
Currently, Uniswap only contributes 2.9% of the total volume on altcoin L1 blockchains, but Wan believes that this may change in the future. With the help of high-performance EVM-compatible L1 blockchains and a multichain expansion strategy, Uniswap could capture more volume on networks like Sei and Monad.
Uniswap, founded in 2017 by Hayden Adams, is the first DEX on Ethereum and remains the largest on-chain trading venue on the crypto L1 blockchain. The protocol has accumulated over $2 trillion in trading volume across 17 chains, with users depositing more than $5.5 billion in total value-locked according to DefiLlama.
However, Uniswap is currently facing possible enforcement action from the U.S. SEC as part of a broader crackdown on the crypto industry. The SEC has issued a Wells Notice to Uniswap, and the DEX plans to defend itself against any potential regulatory action.