A16z votes against proposal to deploy latest Uniswap iteration on BNB Chain

Quick Take

  • A16z used all 15 million of their UNI to vote against the proposal. The proposal would use the Wormhole bridge for the Uniswap V3 deployment. 
  • Partners at the firm previously noted intentions to vote for LayerZero in last week’s temperature check on which bridge to use for the deployment. 

A proposal to deploy the latest version of decentralized exchange Uniswap on the BNB Chain passed an early temperature check, and a full governance vote on the Uniswap DAO is bringing the heavy hitters out to bat.

OxPlasma Labs put forward the proposal to deploy Uniswap V3 on BNB Chain, using the Wormhole bridge for the deployment. A16z put its considerable UNI holdings to use by voting against it. The VC firm has significant skin in the game, as does Jump Crypto — pitting two of the space's most active VCs against each other. Voting will conclude on Feb. 10. 

Jump Crypto won't be voting on the proposal a spokesperson told The Block

Andreessen Horowitz's crypto arm, a16z, backs LayerZero as a bridge, while Jump is invested in Wormhole. A16z could not vote in last week's temperature check, but partners noted their intention to back LayerZero.

"To be totally unambiguous, we at a16z would have voted 15 million tokens toward LayerZero if we were technically able to. And we will be able in future Snapshot votes," Eddie Lazzarin, partner at a16z, wrote in a forum post.

THE SCOOP

Keep up with the latest news, trends, charts and views on crypto and DeFi with a new biweekly newsletter from The Block's Frank Chaparro

By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

The fund could not participate in the temperature check due to the custodial set-up of its tokens, a source with knowledge of the process told The Block.

The debate about these bridges is partly about security  — cross-chain bridges have been the target of numerous attacks, including last year's $325 million attack on Wormhole. The fact that two massive VC firms' own portfolio companies are involved was also a topic of discussion. 

Wormhole proponents were hoping to avoid this scenario, with one person close to the project telling The Block: "If a16z goes against community vote and tries to tank it, I'd be shocked. That would be truly abhorrent, and I don't think they would go that far."

Update: This story has been updated to include that Jump has will not vote on the proposal.


© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

Adam Morgan is a reporter covering cryptocurrency, financial markets, and economics – anything from price movements, earnings reports, and inflation to the U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate decisions and everything in between. Adam is based in London.

Editor

To contact the editors of this story:
Mike Millard at
[email protected]
Christiana Loureiro at
[email protected]