Uniswap Labs, Leader in Decentralized Finance, Unveils Unichain, A New Layer 2 Blockchain

As Companies Continue to Explore Blockchain Applications, Unichain
Offers The Speed and Cost Needed to Drive New Blockchain Use Cases

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Uniswap Labs, a pioneer in decentralized finance (DeFi) unveiled Unichain, a new Ethereum-based Layer 2 (L2) blockchain. Unichain is designed for faster and cheaper transactions and improved liquidity across chains. Unichain is powered by the Optimism Superchain, with a vision to create a network of interoperable blockchains.

Although Ethereum has proven critical for its ability to support peer-to-peer transactions, it still faces barriers to more widespread adoption. To unlock the next level of use cases, its transactions must be even more efficient while improving on the benefits of more traditional infrastructure.

“After years of building and scaling DeFi products, we’ve seen where blockchains need improvement and what’s required to continue advancing Ethereum’s roadmap,” said Hayden Adams, CEO of Uniswap Labs. “Unichain will deliver the speed and cost savings already enabled by L2s, but with better access to liquidity across chains and more decentralization.”

Unichain is built on one of the most widely adopted tech stacks for Layer 2 blockchains—Optimism—and enhanced by unique technical advancements developed by Uniswap Labs in collaboration with the industry’s top minds in research and development. Unichain will help unlock the next generation of markets through its distinct features for both users and developers:

Speed and Cost: Unichain will initially have one-second block times, and will later be optimized to meet 200-250 milliseconds block times. This will feel like a near-instant transaction experience for the user.

Liquidity Integration Across Chains: Unichain will prioritize cross-chain interoperability to address liquidity fragmentation in DeFi. Unichain aims to make it easy for users and developers to access liquidity across chains by supporting transactions across L2s on Optimism’s network of blockchains (the Superchain). For L2s outside of the Superchain, Uniswap Labs will continue to improve transactions across all blockchains by pioneering industry-wide standards (ERC-7683).

New Technical Innovations: Unichain introduces two new technical innovations: the trusted execution environment (TEE) for block building and a community validation network, which are being developed in partnership with Flashbots. Unichain's planned innovations are meant to increase trust and transparency in the system.

Open-Source and Community-Driven: Unichain is an open-source project. Uniswap Labs invites developers to join the community working to scale Ethereum and usher in the next era of DeFi.

"We are excited to work with Uniswap Labs and OP Labs on Unichain and launch Rollup-Boost, a TEE-powered side car for L2 extensions," said Hasu, Steward & Strategy Lead at Flashbots. "This new platform will offer near-instant transactions, native revert protection, and MEV internalization for the next generation of DeFi applications."

“We are proud to welcome Unichain to the Superchain and applaud Uniswap Labs for reaching this milestone,” said Karl Floersch, Co-Founder of Optimism and CEO of OP Labs. “I’ve followed Uniswap Labs’ journey since day one, and now we’re excited to work closely together to bring Ethereum to scale and support new DeFi applications on the Superchain.”

Unichain marks a major milestone for Uniswap Labs and another important step in the evolution of decentralized finance. Unichain is being developed in collaboration with the Uniswap Foundation, Optimism and Flashbots. The private testnet is live today and the public mainnet will go live later this year.

To learn more about Unichain’s technical innovations visit the blog and follow on X.

About Uniswap Labs:

Uniswap Labs is a software company founded in 2018 by Hayden Adams, the company’s CEO, who invented the Uniswap Protocol, a peer-to-peer system for swapping digital assets that has processed $2.4T in volume since its founding. Uniswap Labs builds some of the most widely adopted DeFi products including a self-custody mobile wallet, an API for professional market players and a web interface.