Unichain Approaches $12 Billion in Trading Volume as Users Rush to Uniswap’s Layer 2.

In response to soaring gas fees that are driving users to explore other platforms, Uniswap has unveiled its new Layer 2 network, Unichain, which seeks to improve the overall user experience and uphold its position within the decentralized exchange landscape.

Notably, just three months post its mainnet launch, the network is approaching a remarkable $12 billion in total trading volume.

Unichain’s Quick Adoption

Recent statistics indicate that since the release of Uniswap v4 in January, a considerable portion of its trading activities has transitioned to Unichain in the last month. On May 9th, Unichain accounted for 76% of Uniswap v4’s total volume, with Ethereum capturing merely 15.5%, while Arbitrum and Base held smaller shares at 4.7% and 2.7%, respectively. This data underscores Unichain’s growing significance in Uniswap’s wider strategy for scaling and attracting users.

Uniswap launched Unichain in February this year, built upon the Optimism Superchain framework. It aims to facilitate faster and less expensive decentralized finance operations. Additionally, it is designed to achieve one-second block times and offers gas fees up to 95% lower than those on Ethereum, supporting a range of functions including swapping, bridging, liquidity provision, token launches, lending, and cross-chain trading through the ERC-7683 standard.

The Layer 2 network experienced a notable uptick in activity starting mid-April, coinciding with the introduction of a $45 million liquidity incentive program. According to data from DeFiLlama, its total value locked reached a peak of $800 million in the second week of May before adjusting to the current $627 million. Additionally, reports from L2Beat place Unichain as the fourth-largest Layer 2 network in terms of total value locked.

Moreover, Unichain has seen an impressive increase in user engagement over the past month, as revealed by recent data from Nansen. The network recorded a staggering 3,071% rise in active addresses, reaching 5.9 million—a more than 30-fold increase and the highest percentage growth among all tracked EVM chains. Consequently, it has surpassed significant competitors such as Base and BNB Chain in this aspect.

Uniswap Responds with Unichain

Facing tough competition from alternatives like Raydium on Solana, Uniswap has seen users shift away due to high Ethereum gas fees, especially during the recent meme coin surge. With the rise of Ethereum Layer 2 solutions and the launch of Unichain, the leading decentralized exchange aims to bring users back by providing considerably lower transaction costs and enhanced trading speeds.

In addition to its focus on this new initiative, Uniswap recently achieved a milestone of $3 trillion in aggregate all-time trading volume, becoming the first decentralized exchange to reach this significant figure.