The crypto venture firm a16z recently used its 15 million UNI token voting block to vote against a proposal that would use the Wormhole bridge for Uniswap V3 deployment on BNB Chain. This move has caused a stir in the crypto community, with many calling out the firm for its centralized control of the protocol. The proposal was submitted by 0xPlasma Labs on behalf of the Uniswap Community, and the voting period will conclude on Feb. 10. For a vote to pass, it must achieve a quorum of 4% or 40 million UNI tokens, which a16z is attempting to prevent.
The decision to downvote appears to be driven by the choice of cross-chain bridge in the proposal, as 0xPlasma Labs have preferred Wormhole, whereas a16z is in favor of LayerZero. This is likely due to the firm’s $135 million investment in the LayerZero blockchain interoperability protocol in March 2022.
The UNI token has seen little price movement in the past month, with prices dumping below $5 following the FTX crash in November and remaining relatively flat since mid-August. Furthermore, UNI is still down 84.6% from its May 2021 all-time high of just under $45.
The move by a16z has caused a lot of controversy, with many in the crypto community questioning the decentralization of the protocol. The decision to vote against the proposal has also caused the UNI token to lose 3.9% on the day, and it remains to be seen how the vote will play out in the long run.
