Uniswap frontend is feeling the pressure since fee hike

In mid-April, Uniswap UNI +2.10% Labs increased the fee to swap on its interface from 0.15% to 0.25%. The fee applies to most, but not all, swaps that are executed using the Uniswap web interface and wallet.

Using the Uniswap Labs interface is not the only way to use Uniswap. Traders can use aggregators, alternate UIs, or go directly through the smart contract to make swaps. When the fee was first introduced in October 2023, Uniswap founder Hayden Adams said it would allow his team to “continue to research, develop, build, ship, improve, and expand crypto and DeFi.” 

The fee change happened shortly after it became public that Uniswap had received a Wells Notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

It does seem like the fee has had an impact on the Uniswap interface’s popularity. The Uniswap frontend accounted for a still sizable 30% of DEX activity in April, compared to 35.8% in March.

The frontend has still been helping Uniswap Labs bolster its coffers, though. Since the fee hike, the developers have made over $145,000 a day from their frontend on Ethereum ETH +1.22% alone.

It seems like fees have slowed since the initial change as more people have become aware of it. Eight of the first 10 days post-0.25% fee brought in over $300,000 in revenue, but only four days since April 21 have crossed that threshold. Part of that drop could also be tied to a broader slowdown in the market, as fees did pick up at the tail end of last week when the prices of assets began to rebound.

In the end, if the Uniswap frontend is what you are most comfortable with, a 0.1% fee hike might not be enough to deter traders from it. It has historically been one of the most popular frontend, and Uniswap itself is the most popular decentralized exchange.

So far in the early days of May, the Uniswap frontend is only on pace to account for 20% of volume, but that seems to be less of a reflection on Uniswap and more due to a surge in the usage of the 1inch website.

This is an excerpt from The Block's Data & Insights newsletter. Dig into the numbers making up the industry’s most thought-provoking trends.