TLDR
- UNI posted approximately 15% gains over a 24-hour period, significantly outperforming Bitcoin’s 4.7% and Ethereum’s 8.5% increases
- Community governance proposal seeks to extend Uniswap’s fee collection mechanism across eight new blockchain networks
- The expansion is projected to generate approximately $27 million in yearly revenue, complementing the existing ~$34 million already collected
- More than $5.5 million in UNI tokens have been burned since the protocol activated its fee switch mechanism in late 2025
- First quarter 2026 gross earnings reached approximately $3.12 million, a dramatic improvement from essentially zero in previous quarters
The UNI token from decentralized exchange Uniswap posted impressive gains of approximately 15% during a 24-hour window on February 26, 2026, significantly outperforming the wider cryptocurrency market as market participants responded positively to a significant governance initiative that could fundamentally alter the protocol’s revenue collection strategy.
During this same timeframe, Bitcoin posted gains near 4.7%, with Ether climbing approximately 8.5%. UNI’s performance stood out as among the most robust among prominent cryptocurrency assets.
The driving force behind the rally was a community governance initiative proposing to extend Uniswap’s fee collection system to eight new blockchain ecosystems, featuring multiple layer-2 scaling solutions.
The fee collection mechanism works by diverting a portion of transaction fees from liquidity providers directly into the protocol’s treasury. These collected funds are subsequently deployed for UNI token repurchases and permanent removal from circulation.
The current proposal would transition from the existing pool-specific fee activation approach to a comprehensive tier-based v3 framework, implementing protocol fees universally across all liquidity pools automatically.
A newly developed instrument called the v3OpenFeeAdapter would enable automated fee collection for all newly created v3 pools, eliminating the requirement for individual governance approval on each pool.
Projections indicate the network expansion could produce approximately $27 million in supplementary annual revenue, building upon the roughly $34 million currently being collected and allocated toward UNI token burns.
Fee Switch Already Burning Millions
Following the initial activation of the fee collection system in late 2025, Uniswap has permanently removed over $5.5 million worth of UNI tokens from circulation, suggesting an annualized burn rate approaching $34 million based on present trading activity.
During the first quarter of 2026, Uniswap generated roughly $3.12 million in gross profit per DeFi Llama analytics, representing a substantial increase from virtually nothing in previous reporting periods.
The governance initiative has been divided into two distinct onchain voting procedures due to limitations on transaction processing capacity.
Price Action and Technical Levels
UNI reached intraday peaks exceeding $4.00 throughout the trading session, while daily transaction volume surged by roughly 62%.
Notwithstanding the single-day rally, UNI continues to trade in negative territory across weekly, monthly, and year-to-date timeframes. The asset remains positioned beneath its 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day simple moving average indicators.
The daily Relative Strength Index registers approximately 56, suggesting additional upside potential before entering overbought conditions. The MACD histogram indicates emerging bullish momentum, with $3.20 marked as a possible local support floor.
Bollinger Band analysis positions UNI above the upper band at $3.81. Successfully breaching the 50-day SMA would bring the 100-day SMA near $5.09 into consideration as the next resistance target.
Critical support zones are identified at $3.48 and $3.00 for potential downside scenarios.
BlackRock has recently acquired UNI tokens as component of a strategic initiative to leverage Uniswap for facilitating transactions involving its BUIDL tokenized Treasury product.
Open interest metrics for UNI are expanding while funding rates maintain positive territory, based on information from Coinglass analytics.
