a16z, a venture capital firm, has voiced its opposition to the launch of Uniswap v3 on Binance Smart Chain (BSC). The startup has raised concerns that come up in the ongoing debate in the DeFi community about the trade-offs between efficiency, security, and decentralization.
a16z weighed in on the discussion, stating that launching Uniswap v3 on the BSC is a “bad idea” with potentially dire consequences for the DeFi space. The firm argues that BSC’s lack of security compared to Ethereum puts user funds at risk. Its centralization could concentrate power in the hands of a few players, undermining the decentralized nature of DeFi.
Uniswap v3, a new version of the well-known decentralized exchange, has caused mixed feelings since it came out on the Ethereum blockchain in 2021.
Concerns over control of UNI governance
He Uniswap DAO Forum reported that a16z had rejected the proposal to launch Uniswap v3 on the BNB chain. By contrast, Robert Leshner, CEO of Compound Labs, approved the implementation. The disagreement arose from the selection of the cross-chain bridge, specifically the Wormhole bridge. Concerns revolve around that a16z has the power to control 41.5 million UNI through 11 wallets, constituting more than 4% of the total supply.
According to the governance proposal submitted on February 2 by 0xPlasma Labs on behalf of the Uniswap community, the vote took place with a verified 20 million (80.28%) upvote. 4.9 million (19.72%) voted “no”. However, a16z used its 15 million UNI shares to vote “no” on the measure. Currently, only 3.6% of the total votes (36.26 million) have been cast, with the voting period ending on February 10.
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) votes for LayerZero
a16z prefers LayerZero as the interop protocol, so voted against the deployment. The venture firm’s partners expressed their intention to vote for LayerZero as the implementation bridge during the temperature check.
0xPlasma Labs reported that stakeholders in the Uniswap community expressed their desire for trust-minimized bridges to be used for governance in the new Uniswap v3 implementation on the BNB Chain. However, after a complex discussion and vote on Snapshot, the community chose Wormhole Bridge for the implementation.
