According to news from CoinWorld, the Uniswap Foundation, responsible for overseeing the largest decentralized spot cryptocurrency exchange, has proposed establishing a new legal entity for its governance organization under Wyoming's Decentralized Nonprofit Association (DUNA) framework. This new legal entity, named 'DUNI', will retain the existing governance structure of Uniswap's DAO and place it within a legal framework that will allow it to retain service providers, enter into contracts, and fulfill regulatory and tax compliance obligations. Uniswap's DAO will be the largest decentralized organization adopting this legal framework. Under the terms of the proposal, it will receive UNI valued at $16.5 million to meet past tax obligations and fund a legal defense budget. Since Uniswap has never opted to be treated as a corporation for tax purposes, the foundation expects the IRS bill to be less than $10 million to meet previous tax obligations and any penalties. The foundation noted in its announcement that adopting the DUNA framework will pave the way for protocol fee conversion, transferring a small portion of LP fees to the DAO treasury. '[With the legal framework], DUNA has unlocked tremendous potential in what it can do, participate in, and trade,' said Brian Nistler, General Counsel of the Uniswap Foundation, to The Block. 'This clearly lays the groundwork for fee conversion voting... and truly formalizes the activities of [Uniswap governance], while protecting participants in collective decision-making.' Nistler pointed out that under the DUNA framework, fee revenue cannot be directly distributed to UNI token holders. 'While we are adopting this legal framework, it does not fundamentally change the decentralization of Uniswap governance or the DAO,' he said. The proposal will also allocate $75,000 to Cowrie, a consulting firm co-founded by David Kerr, to serve as the administrator of DUNI. Kerr was deeply involved in drafting the Wyoming legislation, which passed in March 2024. Nistler described him as 'a great confidant and advisor throughout the entire DUNA assessment process.' As this proposal emerges, other cryptocurrency protocols are seeking to re-centralize some operations, often in the name of efficiency, such as the LayerZero Foundation's proposal to acquire the Stargate bridge or NFT giant Yuga Labs' proposal to dissolve its ApeCoin DAO. 'For me personally, a significant unlocking for our industry is not just redoing things on-chain, but reshaping how we do things as a selective and collective decision-making process,' Nistler said. 'DAOs have lagged in this regard, but I feel that with the DUNA entity, DAOs can elevate their operational capabilities through a pathway, gain protection, and still be able to participate collectively and take actions toward the future they want to maintain.'
