UNI Rallies in Anticipation of Fee Switch

Uniswap’s multi-year fee switch saga may finally be coming to a close, and UNI is rallying as holders are seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

UNI is up 25% over the last week, and 6% today, fueled by a recent proposal to establish a nonprofit legal structure for Uniswap Governance that is registered in the state of Wyoming.

UNI Chart – CoinGecko

The new structure is known as a Decentralized Unincorporated Nonprofit Association, or DUNA, and Uniswap’s will be referred to as DUNI. Analysts and traders are operating under the assumption that DUNI paves the way for Uniswap Governance to finally start distributing protocol fees to token holders, what is known as the fee switch

According to the proposal, “Uniswap Governance as a DUNA would bolster critical limited liability protections for governance participants. This step is intended to protect governance participants from potential personal exposure to possible legal or tax liabilities stemming from the collective action taken by Uniswap Governance.”

The proposal goes on to say, “in this vision, Governance can turn on the protocol fee.”

Uniswap is the third-highest fee generator in all of DeFi over the last 30 days with $129 million, and the fourth-highest over the last calendar year with $1.08 billion, according to DeFiLlama. This only trails Tether’s $6.5 billion and Circle’s $1.94 billion.

Protocols by Yearly Fees – DeFiLlama

A Long Time Coming

The fee switch was first proposed in 2022, but was quickly met with hesitation due to the regulatory landscape and legal gray area. The mechanism was proposed again in February 2024, just to be rejected a month later.

Now, in 2025 under the new U.S. administration, holders are hopeful about a favorable outcome considering the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) new and friendly tone towards decentralized finance, perhaps best summed up by Chair Paul Atkins’ recent “Project Crypto” statement.

Wyoming State Senator Cynthia Lummis took to X to share a story on Uniswap’s DUNA plan where she said “Wyoming led the way with the creation of the LLC in the 1970’s, and has now created DUNAs to provide a legal entity tailor-made for digital asset companies. The Cowboy State continues to build the legal foundation American innovators need to succeed.”