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Is Binance using customer tokens to manipulate Uniswap (UNI)?

Hayden Adams, the creator of Uniswap, accuses crypto giant Binance of using customers' UNI tokens without them realizing it.

By Finst News
• 3 min read
Is Binance using customer tokens to manipulate Uniswap (UNI)?

Hayden Adams, the creator of Uniswap, accuses crypto giant Binance of using customers' UNI tokens without them realizing it. Binance, in effect, wields a lot of power as a delegate (a voter in governance). UNI serves as the governance token for the Uniswap network. Since Binance technically owns the tokens, they have substantial voting power to influence Uniswap's DAO, according to View post on X. The problem is that customers are unaware.

Delegates

According to Hayden Adams, Binance has delegated 13 million UNI tokens, giving them voting rights. Binance thus owns 5.9% of the voting power in the Uniswap DAO, making it the second-largest holder of voting rights in the DEX. Number one is venture capital firm a16z. Because these tokens technically belong to Binance's customers, Adams has now accused Binance of using the UNI tokens without users knowing.

Binance denies

Binance CEO CZ's response didn't take long. On Twitter, the CEO of the largest crypto exchange wrote:

UNI were only transferred between internal Binance wallets, which automatically delegated them. We are not planning to use our users' tokens for UNI DAO voting - Binance CEO, CZ.

CZ clarified: his exchange does not use user tokens to influence UNI DAO decisions. Adams had interpreted the situation incorrectly. It remains unclear why Binance even delegates the tokens, even though the exchange has no plans to use them. Adams quickly acknowledged his mistake. Moreover, the DEX founder stated that Uniswap tokens sent to an address that already delegates UNI are indeed automatically delegated. CZ's words were thus confirmed.

Adams did have the last word, noting that exchanges like Binance should consider directly integrating a workable voting system on the platform. That way, customers can use their tokens if they want to actively participate in the ongoing development of certain crypto projects.

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