I am somewhat disturbed by Uniswap’s recent announcement of a plan to build its own layer 2 chain. Back in 2022, when dYdX announced it was building its own chain, I said that dYdX would return to the Ethereum chain sooner or later. dYdX chose Cosmos to build its application chain, while this time Uniswap chose Optimism.
I didn’t delve into all the details, but I saw someone share the contents of the white paper, which mentioned that $UNI tokens would be used for node staking, which could be seen as a kind of “empowerment”. I speculate that the motivations of dYdX and Uniswap to build chains may include considerations of circumventing regulation. Since projects like Ethereum will not be subject to regulatory sanctions for building chains, they also build chains and solve the problems of the token economic model.
If dividends are paid directly to coin holders, it looks too much like “securities”. I must state that I am against these projects building their own chains. This is like companies like Apple and Xiaomi building electric cars.
In my opinion, Uniswap should not do too much. They launched a wallet last year, and the market feedback was average. Later, they developed some useful or useless functions such as browser plug-ins. I think most of the functions are redundant, and only a few are good. Just like Apple made a watch, the market performance was mediocre; it made glasses, and it seems so-so at present. Of course, Apple is still a very profitable company, and Uniswap is also a very profitable project.
I suggest that the Uniswap team grit their teeth and cut off most of the developers. If they really think V4 is good, then they can develop it. Other messy functions don't have to be done. It's not that the more you do, the better. Of course, this is just my personal complaint, and it may not be adopted.
The market is currently weak, and most project parties are confused like investors. I think most of them have no problems. They should sort out their ideas, focus on developing their main business, and patiently develop users.