Uniswap Incentive Program Powers Unichain to 22,000% Spike in Active Addresses

Unichain, the Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain launched by decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap, is far and away the fastest-growing chain over the 30 days ending on March 10, crypto analytics platform Nansen said on X.

Active addresses are up 21,713% over the past 30 days, to 236,452, according to Nansen. That’s small compared to the likes of Solana (112 million), Base (19.7 million) and Ethereum (7.3 million), but still significant for a chain that launched on Feb. 11.

Uniswap lost its position as the top DEX due to high Ethereum gas fees that pushed users to cheaper alternatives like Solana and BNB Chain, especially during the memecoin craze that appears to have ended with the Argentinian LIBRA debacle.

Uniswap has $3.69 billion total value locked (TVL), according to DeFiLlama.

Positioning for Incentives

A likely explanation for Unichain’s explosive growth over the past 30 days is that users are positioning themselves for the $45 million liquidity incentive program aimed at growing the adoption of Uniswap V4 and Unichain.

That’s part of the Uniswap Foundation’s proposed $165 million initiative to supercharge the growth of Uniswap V4 and Unichain. It also proposes $95.4 million in grants for developer programs, core contributors and validators, and $25.1 million for team expansion and governance tooling.

The program passed a March 2 temperature check vote with 82.6% in favor of the proposal, and is now awaiting a formal governance vote.