Uniswap 的模型是一个可能杀死 DeFi 的科学项目

DeFi 领导者的商业模式和类似的自动化做市商的商业模式的可持续性仍然存在严重问题

Uniswap is one of the largest and most influential decentralized exchanges (DEXs). It launched in November 2018 during Devcon 4, where founder Hayden Adams revealed the platform's V1. In under six months, Uniswap already had $10 million locked in its liquidity pools, securing the DEX with valuable seed funds as it expanded and upgraded its protocol.

Uniswap 是最大、最有影响力的去中心化交易所（DEX）之一。它于 2018 年 11 月 Devcon 4 期间推出，创始人 Hayden Adams 透露了该平台的 V1。在不到六个月的时间里，Uniswap 的流动性池中已经锁定了 1000 万美元，在扩展和升级协议的过程中，为 DEX 提供了宝贵的种子资金。

However, serious questions remain about the sustainability of Uniswap's business model and those of similar automated market makers (AMMs). From a regular user's perspective, Uniswap and AMMs generally provide a convenient way to trade a wide variety of tokens. On the flip side, liquidity providers (LPs) typically fail to retain profits due to the misleadingly-named concept of impermanent loss.

然而，Uniswap 的商业模式以及类似的自动化做市商 (AMM) 的可持续性仍存在严重问题。从普通用户的角度来看，Uniswap 和 AMM 通常提供了一种交易各种代币的便捷方式。另一方面，由于无常损失概念的误导性命名，流动性提供者（LP）通常无法保留利润。

Even if advertised APRs (annual percentage rates) aren't misleading and are distributed to LPs, a study going as far back as 2021 revealed that more than half of Uniswap's LPs were losing money due to impermanent loss, which means they would have been better off just holding the tokens independently and not putting them to work at all. This is because the rate of impermanent loss, caused by volatile price fluctuations, is usually higher than the APRs rewarded to LPs.

即使广告中的 APR（年度百分比率）没有误导性并且分发给 LP，一项早在 2021 年的研究就显示 Uniswap 一半以上的 LP 由于无常损失而亏损，这意味着他们本来会更好只是独立持有代币，根本不让它们发挥作用。这是因为价格波动造成的无常损失率通常高于奖励给有限合伙人的年利率。

Things only got worse when Uniswap transitioned to a concentrated liquidity model, which aimed to improve capital efficiency by offering liquidity in specific price ranges chosen by the user. This removed the 50/50 balance in trades, benefiting traders but making it so that LPs are still actively losing money from taking the suboptimal side of every trade.

当 Uniswap 过渡到集中流动性模式时，情况只会变得更糟，该模式旨在通过在用户选择的特定价格范围内提供流动性来提高资本效率。这消除了交易中的 50/50 平衡，使交易者受益，但也使得有限合伙人仍然因在每笔交易中采取次优策略而蒙受损失。

Let's take a look at the UNI token itself, which somehow does not generate revenue despite a valuation exceeding $6 billion. With no fee-share coming from LPs, the protocol itself earns nothing from its usage. Since UNI holders are unable to stake their tokens to earn rewards in the form of ETH, they gain no direct financial benefit from the value they drive to Ethereum.

让我们看一下 UNI 代币本身，尽管估值超过 60 亿美元，但不知为何它并没有产生收入。由于没有来自有限合伙人的费用分成，该协议本身不会从其使用中获得任何收益。由于 UNI 持有者无法抵押其代币来赚取 ETH 形式的奖励，因此他们无法从为以太坊带来的价值中获得直接的经济利益。

The bottom line is that LPs are unable to get any profit because there is simply no profit to be made. And if LPs aren’t even profitable, it is unlikely there will ever be any profit to share.

最重要的是，有限合伙人无法获得任何利润，因为根本没有利润可赚。如果有限合伙人甚至没有盈利，就不太可能有任何利润可以分享。

So, this raises the question: How can a sector survive, let alone thrive if investors regularly lose money?

因此，这就提出了一个问题：如果投资者经常亏损，一个行业如何生存，更不用说繁荣？

We shouldn't underestimate how big of a problem profitability is for liquidity providers. DeFi cannot effectively function without them, and their role in strengthening crypto as a whole shouldn't be taken for granted. A sign that investors are waking up to this problem can be seen from lending protocols surpassing DEXs in total value locked (TVL).

我们不应该低估盈利能力对流动性提供者来说有多大的问题。没有它们，DeFi 就无法有效运作，并且它们在增强整个加密货币方面的作用不应被视为理所当然。从贷款协议在锁定总价值（TVL）方面超过去中心化交易所可以看出投资者正在意识到这个问题的迹象。

This should sound the alarm for all of DeFi. If LPs pull their funds en masse from DeFi protocols in favor of more traditionally stable asset classes, it would quickly send ripple effects across the entire crypto industry. So how can DEXs be improved to enable more traders and liquidity providers to thrive while simultaneously enhancing capital efficiency?

这应该给所有 DeFi 敲响警钟。如果 LP 将资金从 DeFi 协议中大量撤出，转向更传统的稳定资产类别，那么它将很快在整个加密行业产生连锁反应。那么如何改进去中心化交易所，让更多交易者和流动性提供者蓬勃发展，同时提高资本效率呢？

Crypto's overall idea is to reflect, but also replace, traditional finance through maximum decentralization. However, capital inefficiency within the DeFi sector doesn't allow that to happen, putting it at a clear disadvantage against centralized platforms

加密货币的总体理念是通过最大程度的去中心化来反映并取代传统金融。然而，DeFi 领域的资本效率低下不允许这种情况发生，使其相对于中心化平台处于明显的劣势

In traditional finance, when one deposits money into a savings account, one can expect a reliable ROI from providing liquidity to the institution. But banks carry an implicit trust, whether through consumer protections or centuries of experience in managing assets and navigating volatile markets. DeFi platforms don’t have that same degree of investor confidence. Most DEXs, simply put, don’t have the experience to capture value from their liquidity successfully.

在传统金融中，当人们将钱存入储蓄账户时，可以通过向机构提供流动性来获得可靠的投资回报率。但无论是通过消费者保护，还是通过数百年管理资产和驾驭波动市场的经验，银行都拥有一种隐性的信任。 DeFi 平台没有同样程度的投资者信心。简而言之，大多数去中心化交易所没有成功从流动性中获取价值的经验。

The main problem with Uniswap and similar AMM models is that they never really learned how to profit from the liquidity they collect. Countering this requires DEXs to implement innovative incentivizing mechanisms and boost their transparency to encourage investor and trader participation.

Uniswap 和类似的 AMM 模型的主要问题是，它们从未真正学会如何从收集的流动性中获利。应对这一问题需要去中心化交易所实施创新的激励机制并提高透明度，以鼓励投资者和交易者参与。

Enhancing transparency, tracking impermanent loss, and setting APRs accordingly is paramount to making liquidity providers feel secure and incentivized. Centralized exchanges such as Coinbase and Binance supplement their income by providing infrastructure services and earning interest from token custody. Perhaps, DEXs can evolve to the point where liquidity can be hypothecated to earn both chain security incentives and trade fees simultaneously.

提高透明度、跟踪无常损失并相应地设定年利率对于让流动性提供者感到安全和受到激励至关重要。 Coinbase 和 Binance 等中心化交易所通过提供基础设施服务和从代币托管中赚取利息来补充收入。也许，DEX 可以发展到可以假设流动性来同时赚取链安全激励和交易费用的程度。

DeFi's novelty holds tremendous promise. By removing third-party intermediaries, DeFi enables investors to earn fees from the liquidity they provide to a certain protocol — a revolutionary concept that even 10 years ago would have been hard to wrap one's head around. However, capital inefficiencies and inexperience with the nature of markets call for new approaches to ensure that decentralized systems don't squander the momentum they’ve recently enjoyed. Addressing these challenges now can help bolster all DEXs leading to a stronger and more resilient DeFi.

DeFi 的新颖性蕴藏着巨大的前景。通过消除第三方中介机构，DeFi 使投资者能够从他们向特定协议提供的流动性中赚取费用——这是一个革命性的概念，即使在 10 年前也很难理解。然而，资本效率低下和对市场性质缺乏经验需要新的方法来确保去中心化系统不会浪费它们最近享有的势头。现在解决这些挑战可以帮助支持所有 DEX，从而打造更强大、更具弹性的 DeFi。