Uniswap V4: One DEX for everyone?

If they can’t beat them, they’ll probably join them

article-image

Ivan Babydov/Shutterstock, modified by Blockworks

share

The battle for second place in the race for DEX trading volume is a close one, but the top-ranked Uniswap is far ahead of its competitors.

The most successful decentralized trading platform serves approximately half the DEX market on any given day. So, any change to its service is bound to have a major impact on the DeFi community as a whole.

Speaking to Blockworks on the Bell Curve podcast (Spotify / Apple), Myles O’Neil says the upcoming improvements in Uniswap’s V4 upgrade could widen the gap between itself and other DEXs

Building in public

The associate at Reverie, an advisory and investment firm, observes that the Uniswap team is shifting to a social consensus approach, improving the protocol by “building in public.”

The team appears to be “aligning its brand with that of Ethereum,” according to him, “so when people think of Ethereum, they also think of Uniswap.”

One key improvement included in V4 is the introduction of “hooks,” O’Neil says, which are smart contract mechanisms that expand customizability for developers. Hooks enable developers to “add logic” after swaps or between blocks, he explains.

The improvements will broaden Uniswap’s versatility, O’Neil says, as “a platform for other apps to build upon” in a network of “independent dependents.” 

With the proposed upgrades, O’Neil believes future developers will forgo “starting from scratch,” instead utilizing tools provided by Uniswap to “tap into the liquidity and tap into the existing brand and user base.”

If Uniswap is successful, O’Neil says, “they’ll have all these would-be competitors now building on top of the Uniswap protocol.”

“It’s a really strong strategy.”

Outsource development to the market

“They can retain flexibility to build user-facing tools with the wallet and the mobile app and let the protocol be a little bit more unbiased and open,” O’Neil says.

The customizability provided with hooks will accelerate development, according to O’Neil. Uniswap can “outsource” innovation to the market, where developers can “really experiment,” he says.

Framework Ventures co-founder Michael Anderson gives one example of how hooks could be utilized with limit orders. “Some price on some AMM (automated market maker) gets below some threshold or above some threshold, and there’s some trigger with a hook that says, okay, sell or buy that asset, or swap that asset.”

Anderson agrees that the V4 development process indicates a move toward a more “open-source” approach by the Uniswap team, which he says is a “really positive development for a protocol.”

With all the possibilities that become available through hooks, Anderson says Uniswap’s functionality will look quite different from the way it is today. 

“Historically, what we’ve seen with Uniswap is that it’s really simple to use,” he says. V3 added considerable complexity, Anderson says, along with benefits to users. With hook customization, the possibilities for applications broaden considerably.

“It’s going to be interesting to see what the user experience looks like,” he says. “That’s going to be a pretty huge divergence from what most people think of Uniswap today.”


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research

article-image

Crypto is still on a mission — and still needs users

article-image

After its first phone drew jeers from a popular tech YouTuber, Solana Mobile delivered on its newest device

article-image

Markets strongly suspect that committee members will make the first interest rate cut of 2025

article-image

After four days of deliberation, the jury found Roman Storm guilty on Wednesday of one federal count

article-image

Pendle’s new platform transforms perp funding into tradable yield units — paving the way for a full-stack onchain fixed-income ecosystem

article-image

9.6% of crypto industry employees were paid in crypto, and most opted for USDC and USDT