Since the recent ETH market rally, ETH has risen by 48% online in the past month, driving a number of ETH ecosystem project prices up. Historically, blue-chip projects in the ETH ecosystem tend to have a multiplier effect during rising cycles. UNI is one of the key blue-chip targets in the ETH ecosystem, currently up 28% in the last month, showing potential for further gains if the market continues.

At the same time, UNI has certain alpha potential under the beta of the ETH market.

Macroeconomic regulatory situation

On February 25, 2025, the SEC announced the termination of its investigation into Uniswap Labs and would no longer pursue enforcement actions. Uniswap Labs announced this result on X, calling it a 'major victory for DeFi' and emphasizing its technological legitimacy. This event reflects a shift in the SEC's attitude towards crypto regulation after Trump took office. On April 8, 2025, the SEC invited Uniswap Labs and companies like Coinbase to participate in a crypto roundtable to discuss crypto trading regulation.

Currently, since the SEC effectively terminated its investigation into Uniswap Labs at the beginning of 2025, and the current crypto market structural bill defines what does not constitute securities, Uniswap's current token economics plan means that UNI is no longer facing litigation risks.

After Trump took office, the direction of crypto regulation aims to design classification methods for crypto assets, the Howey test, and the division of functions of regulatory agencies from the perspective of adapting to the development of the crypto industry, and discussions with leading crypto teams in the US. Uniswap Labs plays an important advisory role in this regard. After comprehensive deregulation, there may be expectations of further regulatory benefits in the future.

Project business situation

1. Top-tier business data

Uniswap is the earliest and largest Dex protocol in the crypto market, with a current TVL of 5.12 billion USD and a trading volume of 84.5 billion USD in the past 30 days, ranking second after Pancake. Before the launch of Binance Alpha features, Uniswap's trading volume consistently ranked first across the market, generating 929 million USD in profits over the year, ranking seventh. If we calculate a simple P/E based on traditional valuation methods, it would be around 4.5–6.4, while Coinbase's P/E is about 33–42, Apple's P/E is approximately 28–35, and Tesla's P/E is around 50–70. If the future 'fee switch' for UNI can be activated or regulations loosen to expand its financial application scenarios (currently, holding UNI does not participate in profit distribution), its market value is significantly undervalued relative to its business profitability.

According to the Uniswap Foundation's financial summary for Q1 2025, as of March 31, 2025, the foundation holds 53.4 million USD in cash and stablecoins, 15.8 million UNI (valued in UNI), and 257 ETH. Based on the closing exchange rate on May 28, 2025, this is equivalent to 150 million USD in tokens. The expected capital turnover period will last until January 2027, and it currently has a good financial condition.

2. Attempts to empower token economics

In the past token economics of UNI, the main way to generate profits was by adding UNI to specific trading pools as LP, staking UNI to participate in DAO governance to propose buybacks or liquidity incentives. However, these profits are quite indirect and, in most cases, yield lower returns. Directly holding UNI does not directly generate profits, which is also the main reason why the price of UNI tokens has not risen to high levels.

However, Uniswap Labs has been making attempts to empower token economics, repeatedly proposing the fee switch. Due to regulatory risks, substantive progress has not been made. The latest fee switch proposal was restarted in February 2024, passed a technical vote in May, and is expected to further advance on-chain voting in the second half of 2025. With the gradual advancement of the regulatory framework, the fee switch may be activated in the future.

In addition to the fee switch, Uniswap's newly launched Unichain also provides new application scenarios for UNI. Unichain is a Layer 2 (L2) blockchain announced by Uniswap Labs on October 10, 2024, based on the OP Stack of Optimism's Superchain framework, and will officially launch its mainnet on February 13, 2025.

Like other L2s, Unichain also has a validator network that uses UNI as the staking token. Node operators must stake UNI on the Ethereum mainnet to become validators in the UVN (Unichain Validator Network). The amount staked determines the probability of being selected for the active validator set. Earnings come from 65% of net chain revenue (including base fees, priority fees, and MEV), distributed according to staking weight. Currently, the official has not disclosed the specific staking scale, but Uniswap Labs continues to support Unichain. If its yield and ecological scale gradually expand, more UNI staking will be introduced to become validators and earn profits.

In the spot K-line, during the pattern of ETH's rise last November, UNI and ETH showed similar trends in form, but UNI's volatility was about 2–3 times that of ETH. However, in the recent rise of ETH in April, both showed similar trends, but ETH's increase was higher than UNI's. If the market continues, UNI may have further upward momentum.

As the largest Dex protocol in the current crypto market, how the US regulates it will become a model for the entire industry. Uniswap Labs is also actively participating in the formulation of regulatory rules. Combined with ETH's multiplier effect, it may usher in structural favorable opportunities.

The project itself has market-leading business data, considerable profits, and good financial health. The advancement of Unichain projects and the proposal for a fee switch may bring new empowerment to the token. If optimistic about the future market, UNI is one of the blue-chip targets worth paying attention to in the ETH ecosystem.