Move Comes Ahead Of Imminent License Expiration

Uniswap, the leading decentralized exchange by trading volume, is set to launch its V3 iteration on Avalanche, an Ethereum-compatible Layer-1 blockchain with over $1.5B in total value locked.

LayerZero has been chosen as the bridge for the Avalanche deployment as it supports both the Ethereum and Avalanche networks. LayerZero investors include Uniswap Labs, a16z, and Coinbase.

“The primary urgency behind this proposal is the upcoming BSL expiration on April 1st.” the proposal reads.

Two years after the launch of Uniswap V3, its Business Source License (BSL) is set to expire on April 1, after which developers will be free to copy the codebase. Under BSL, the V3 codebase is closed-source, and can only be used with Uniswap’s permission.

It can be surmised that Uniswap is looking to deploy V3 across the DeFi ecosystem before any potential forks establish themselves. 

Uniswap V3 was launched in March 2021, and its concentrated liquidity feature has been hailed as a breakthrough for automated market makers (AMMs), as it offers far improved capital efficiency.

After the Avalanche deployment is complete, the Uniswap protocol will be available across seven chains, including Ethereum.

Contentious BNB Deployment

Last week, Uniswap was deployed on the BNB Smart Chain, with Wormhole being chosen as the bridging solution.

However, venture capital heavyweight a16z voted against the deployment.

It later came to light that a16z would have voted for the proposal if LayerZero, one of its portfolio companies, had been picked as the bridging solution.

In response to the infighting, Uniswap created the Uniswap Bridge Assessment Committee, tasked with selecting bridges for future deployments of the protocol. The committee is currently assessing 8 bridges and three bridge-agnostic solutions.

Uniswap’s UNI token is down 8% in the past 30 days, according to The Defiant Terminal.

UNI Price, Source: The Defiant Terminal