Uniswap Labs, the team behind the popular decentralized exchange Uniswap, has announced plans to launch Unichain as a new Ethereum Layer-2 solution.
Top decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap (UNI) has announced plans to launch a new Ethereum Layer-2 (L2) solution called "Unichain" to improve transaction speeds, lower costs, and enhance DeFi liquidity.
Unichain will reportedly serve as a fast and interoperable L2 network for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, boasting 250-millisecond (ms) blocks and a decentralized validator network. The L2 solution will be designed to optimize cross-chain liquidity and aims to become the "home for liquidity across chains."
The announcement highlighted the collaboration between Uniswap Foundation, Optimism, and Flashbots in building Unichain, which will be integrated into the Optimism network. This integration is expected to enable interoperability with other networks, such as Worldcoin, Mantle, and Base, thanks to the Optimism Superchain.
One of the key features of Unichain will be the use of a trusted execution environment (TEE) to ensure transparency in block-building and protect transactions from being tampered with, aiming to achieve block-building times of 200–250 ms.
To further enhance decentralization and efficiency, the project will be open-source, with Uniswap Labs also announcing the launch of the Unichain Builder Toolkit, which will enable open, secure, and synchronous development of the entire infrastructure.
The launch of Unichain is also expected to address the issue of liquidity fragmentation, where tokens are distributed across multiple L2 networks, creating additional complexity and costs.
Commenting on the announcement, Hayden Adams, CEO of Uniswap Labs, said, “After years of building and scaling DeFi products, we’ve seen where blockchains need improvement and what’s required to continue advancing Ethereum’s roadmap. Unichain will deliver the speed and cost savings already enabled by L2s, but with better access to liquidity across chains and more decentralization.”
Uniswap Labs also mentioned that Unichain will introduce cross-chain swapping into the Uniswap Interface and Uniswap Wallet upon its release.
This development is significant, especially considering the involvement of one of DeFi's most prominent DEXs. The fact that the project is open and encourages participation from other builders, even those working on competing projects, aligns with the broader goal of connecting the disparate DeFi ecosystem.