UNI (Uniswap) — the exchange’s governance token
How it works
UNI is the governance token of the decentralized exchange Uniswap. A governance token means it grants a voting right in decisions about how the protocol is arranged and configured, rather than a share in a company the way a stock does. UNI appeared in 2020 and was handed out, among others, to the exchange’s early users. This is an example of a governance token, so by class it is still just a “token”, but it is needed not to pay for a service and not as a wrapper over another coin, but precisely for voting (what a token is in general is covered in the article what is a token).
UNI is a token, that is, a crypto-asset with no separate network of its own, and it works on Ethereum (under the ERC-20 standard) and on other networks. It makes sense together with the Uniswap protocol, one of the decentralized exchanges, where coins are swapped with no company acting as a middleman (a service overview is in the article Uniswap). How the swap itself works on such an exchange is described in Uniswap’s technical document (whitepaper)2.
UNI’s issuance is set in advance. At launch in 2020 a full billion tokens were created at once, and their distribution was stretched over about four years: most was meant for the community, and the rest for the team, investors and advisors. After those four years a small perpetual inflation of about 2% a year is built in, so the total number of UNI grows slowly3. How coin issuance works in general is covered in the article issuance.
Above all, UNI gives a vote in decisions about the protocol, and it is not a share in a company. At the same time the token’s role changes over time. In late 2025 holders voted for a package of changes called “UNIfication”, which includes a protocol fee and a “burn” of part of the UNI, where part of the tokens is removed from circulation forever. So inflation slowly adds tokens, while the burn, on the contrary, removes some from circulation. This already goes beyond the earlier “just a vote, no income”, but the specifics depend on implementation and may change, so they are best checked directly where to check: official Uniswap and governance materials.
A voting right in the protocol and a share in a company are two different things. A stock gives a part of the business and its profit, while a governance token like UNI gives only the right to take part in decisions about how the protocol works. Legally these are not the same, and they should not be confused.
Through the votes of UNI holders the protocol is tuned: whether to turn on a protocol fee, where to direct the money of the community treasury, which upgrades to accept. Every major step is put to a vote, and the weight of a vote depends on how much UNI a participant has.
Where to check current UNI data
The networks where UNI is available, how governance is arranged right now, and the status of the protocol fee and the burn can be checked in where to check: the Uniswap site or an explorer. How much UNI is in circulation, the price and market cap can be checked in.
Properties
- A voting right in Uniswap protocol governance
UNI’s value is tied to how much the Uniswap exchange itself and its governance are in demand. Like any token, UNI depends on its network, and its price can swing sharply.
A vote by itself does not bring money and does not guarantee the token’s value. New mechanics like a protocol fee and a burn do not automatically turn UNI into an “income instrument”, and they carry their own risks.