Wintermute Delegate Platform

[WintermuteGovernance]

Wintermute Delegate Platform

Contact & Delegation Address Information

Delegate Address: 0xB933AEe47C438f22DE0747D57fc239FE37878Dd1

Delegate ENS Address: wintermutegovernance.eth

Forum Username: Wintermute, Callen_Wintermute

Email: governance@wintermute.com

Website: https://www.wintermute.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wintermute_t

Our Voting Activity: Boardroom

Our Discussion Activity: https://gov.uniswap.org/u/wintermutegovernance/activity

Hi Uniswap Community!

We are excited to begin supporting Uniswap at our fullest capacity, offering a unique delegate experience for the community and stakeholders. As a user and longtime supporter of Uniswap, we are committed to helping the protocol’s decentralization and multi-chain growth.

Specifically, our focus will be on:

• Ensuring the safe deployment of V3 across multiple chains, ensuring target chains are net beneficial to the protocol and token holders.
• Researching and putting forward proposals to address potential areas of improvement such as governance participation, governance processes, growth, grants, etc.
• Provide input and recommendations regarding protocol parameters from a trading and LP perspective.
• Streaming important votes and proposals and their impact across our institutional and corporate channels.

Introduction

Wintermute is a leading crypto-native algorithmic trading firm, specializing in creating efficient markets across centralized and decentralized exchanges. Wintermute was founded in July 2017 by three Optiver veterans. Evgeny Gaevoy, founder and CEO, was previously head of ETFs (screen and OTC) at Optiver Europe, one of the largest ETF market-making desks. Since our inception, we have traded over $2.85T and expanded our presence across 80+ (de)centralized exchanges and various (non)EVM chains, continuously supporting and providing liquidity throughout the ecosystem for our partners and their communities.

Alongside our trading arm is Wintermute Ventures, which enables us to support projects where we know we can be true value-adding, develop a partnership and help influence a positive outcome. Importantly, we do not target large ownership stakes; decentralized ownership is an important prerequisite to transitioning to a robust future.

Why us

We believe that a decentralized world needs robust and progressive governance systems. Our goal is to support DAOs along their journey towards such a state through objective, long-term value-add decision-making.

Alongside active governance participation, Wintermute’s goal is to support Uniswap’s growth in a sustainable and robust manner, providing research when needed and proactively creating proposals to address areas of improvement (e.g. dYdX LP Reward Restructure). We’ll also happily leverage our internal infrastructure from both our trading and venture arms to support the DAO in areas such as simple treasury maintenance, to bespoke cross-chain liquidity management.

Outside of Uniswap, we’re contributors to Aave, dYdX, Index Coop, and 1inch. We intend to expand our presence across many more DAOs in the near future.

Our Core Values:

Long-term value creation over short-term opportunism.

For example, we do not support short-term rent-seeking token distribution programs; or the redistribution of tokens that carry no positive second-order effects.

In contrast, we do support and encourage purpose-driven mechanisms that incentivize positive behaviour and are value-maximizing; or that improve alignment between token holders and the protocol.

Transparency, alignment, and proactivity.

We are proactive in providing clear and consistent reasoning behind our decision-making and proposals, ensuring the protocol’s sustainability is at the heart of all governance discussions.

Objective data-driven decision-making.

We use data and research to ensure our final decision is objectively value-accretive for the protocol.

We look forward to actively contributing to Uniswap alongside fellow delegates and thank all future delegators who choose to support Wintermute and the greater decentralization of Uniswap!

Interested in delegating to us without paying for gas? Here’s how:

1. Head to https://uni.vote/ and connect your wallet.
2. Once connected, scroll to the bottom of the page and enter our Ethereum address 0xB933AEe47C438f22DE0747D57fc239FE37878Dd1 and click “Delegate”.

3. Lastly, click “Sign” on your wallet application pop-up!

[WintermuteGovernance]

[Temperature Check] Enable 1bp Fee Tier for UniswapV3 on Arbitrum

Vote: Yes
Summary: With a thriving Arbitrum ecosystem, it’s important for Uniswap to capitalize and remain competitive on stablecoin swaps. Enabling the 1bp fee tier is a no-brainer in achieving this as illustrated on other EVM chains.

[WintermuteGovernance]

Temperature Check: Create Accountability Committee
Vote: Jun Sun (Penn Blockchain)
Summary: From our observations and experience dealing with Penn Blockchain (incl. Jun Sun) across multiple ecosystems, we are confident in his ability to provide significant value to the Partnerships & Accountability Committee.

[Temperature Check] Deploy Uniswap v3 on Avalanche + On chain vote
Vote: Yes
Summary: We have supported both the temperature check and on-chain vote to deploy Uniswap V3 on Avalanche. The urgency surrounding the expiry of the V3 BSL should not be understated. While we also understand the caution in the community regarding bridge providers, we believe LayerZero (the heavily supported alternative to the Binance Chain deployment) poses no significant risk to the protocol.

[WintermuteGovernance]

[Temperature Check] Deploy Uniswap v3 on Moonbeam (2023)
Vote: Yes
Summary: After the BSL expiration, it is essential to continue deploying Uniswap v3 on new chains. We support this proposal.

[WintermuteGovernance]

Create v3deployments.uniswap.eth subdomain and populate its text fields
Vote: Yes
Summary: There is a need to create a registry of canonical deployments of Uniswap v3, so we support this proposal.

[WintermuteGovernance]

Proposal: [Temperature Check] Deploy Uniswap v3 on Base
Vote: Yes
Summary: We support the deployment of Uniswap V3 on Base. We are very supportive of Uniswap’s multi-chain vision and expect Base to generate substantial TVL and on-chain activity. Ensuring Uniswap is ready for Base’s mainnet will be critical for capturing market share.

Proposal: Temperature Check - Uniswap V3 Deployment to Fantom
Vote: Yes
Summary: We shared our concerns in the forum about Fantom’s significant exposure to Multichain assets and the potential for Uniswap LPs to get hurt. Given this is only a temperature check, we are voting yes to progress further. However, we would like to wait for more clarity surrounding Multichain before proceeding further.

Proposal: Making Protocol Fees Operational: Fee options for V3
Vote: 1/5
Summary: A 20:80 fee split between the DAO:LPs should be sufficient to test the effects of activating the protocol fee. However, given the sheer amount of volume that comes through Uniswap we could see the fee split to the DAO being reduced in the future. We must also remain proactive in protecting Uniswap supply side.

Proposal: Making Protocol Fees Operational: Initial deployment chain
Vote: Polygon
Summary: Polygon has enough volume for this initial test to be informative and is not too large that any adverse effects should materially change Uniswaps position in DEX volume market share.

Proposal: Deploy UniswapV3 on Linea
Vote: Yes
Summary: We supportive Uniswap V3’s deployment on Linea. ConsenSys has built a widely used suite of tools that present a good opportunity for establishing development and activity on Linea. Specifically, capturing the first mover advantage in integrating with MM swaps could be significant for Uniswap.

[WintermuteGovernance]

Introducing WinterGov - A Delegate’s Tool for Governance

WinterGov is a Dune dashboard that allows anyone to keep track of live proposals they have not yet voted for. For delegates, it’s a great tool to make sure they’re not missing votes and therefore, maintaining a high participation rate.

https://dune.com/wintermuteresearch/wintergov

Simply enter your address, click run, and the dashboard will load all live proposals that require voting and tell you how much time you have left.

Click on the proposal ID and you’ll be taken to the voting page.

It’ll also show your current delegated voting power on the RHS.

The dashboard also displays your recent voting activity along with their outcomes, and voting turnout.

You can also track your on-chain voting participation rate from the beginning of the DAO and from when you began voting.

The rolling 6-month on-chain participation rate is useful to track your recent performance and identify DAOs where you need to pay more attention to.

Lastly, you can view a list of your delegators and the amount of voting power they have delegated along with your overall distribution of delegated voting power.

WinterGov currently supports Aave, dYdX, Compound, Uniswap, ENS, and Gitcoin!

[eek637]

This is awesome, thanks @WintermuteGovernance! Particularly like the granular view of delagators.

[WintermuteGovernance]

1. Uniswap v3 on Base
Vote: For
Summary: We support the deployment of Uniswap V3 on Base as part of Uniswap’s multichain growth efforts. Base’s Testnet has seen great activity and overall, we expect there to be a lot of activity once mainnet is launched.

2. Deploy Uniswap V3 on Linea
Vote: For
Summary: We support the deployment of Uniswap V3 on Linea as part of Uniswap’s multichain growth efforts. The synergy of ConsenSys’ products provides a great opportunity for the onboarding of developers and users. Furthermore, gaining market share at inception will be super important in capturing MM swap market share.

3. ARB Distribution Proposal Poll
Vote: Combined Liquidity Incentives
Summary: The combined liquidity incentive RFP provides a combination of important research and development articles for the Uniswap DAO. We look forward to retroactive analysis and findings of the program.

Disclaimer: Wintermute is an investor in Angle Protocol.

4. [Temperature Check] Migrate the Celo Uniswap V3 Factory Contract owner from Optics to Wormhole
Vote: Yes
Summary: We support the amendment of the Celo deployment for Uniswap V3 to pivot to an approved Uniswap governance bridge.

5. [Temperature Check] Deploy Uniswap V3 on Scroll
Vote: Yes
Summary: We support the deployment of Uniswap V3 on Scroll as part of Uniswap’s multichain growth efforts. Continuing to gain market share on new L2s and cater to gas-sensitive and new users is important for the DAO.

6. [Temperature Check] - Deploy Uniswap V2 on all chains with V3
Vote: Yes - Deploy V2
Summary: We completely agree that there is a need for unifying V2 and V3 deployments across chains. Having recognised canonical deployments of V2 will help protect users from malicious deployments and it’ll help create some stability in the DEX ecosystem on certain chains.

7. [Temperature Check] Deploy Friendly Fork of Uniswap V3; ZERO Protocol on Polygon zkEVM
Vote: Yes
Summary: While we don’t think there would be informative R&D conclusions on the protocol side due to very different incentive mechanisms, we believe there is a benefit to the DAO exploring friendly forks.

[WintermuteGovernance]

1. [Temp Check]: Complete initial funding of the UF
Vote: Yes, fund UF
Summary: The Uniswap Foundation has had a significant impact on the Uniswap ecosystem since its inception. We support the second tranche of funds to continue their efforts moving into 2024 and believe their context and alignment within the Uniswap ecosystem is super valuable for stakeholders.

2. UADP Team Election
Vote: Abdullah Umar - @Michigan Blockchain
Summary: Both candidates had strong profiles, however, Abdullah’s governance experience and deep understanding of DeFi, Uniswap, Arbitrum, and DEXs make them a great candidate for UADP.

3. UAGP Team Election
Vote: Nneoma_StableLab, Honn, Zeb, Sov
Summary: Our decision for selected candidates was based on the individual’s context and experience around Uniswap and/or Governance. The candidates we have selected are equipped with the knowledge to build out a strong Grants program and we look forward to seeing their work.

4. Temperature Check - [Issue a Visa Card with Uniswap Logo ]
Vote: Abstain
Summary: As discussed in the forum, we believe it is not the DAO’s decision to determine the use of Uniswap IP.

5. [Temperature Check]: Invest in Ekubo Protocol
Vote: No change
Summary:
We are generally supportive of such experiments and appreciate having this opportunity presented to the DAO. However, in its current state, we cannot support this proposal based on the requested funding amount of $12M and the implied valuation of $60M.

As mentioned by @eek637

“With that in mind, I suggest that delegates consider this proposal on the merits of the transaction itself, rather than the labels that might be applied to Ekubo Inc.”

Taking into account the above:

• There is little to no information about the Ekubo token, its intended use outside of a governance token, plans for the remaining 80% of the token supply, etc.
• The Uniswap DAO has not established a framework for both treasury diversification and investment decisions. Which is unfortunate given this opportunity.
• The above is further amplified by the size of the investment which ranks Ekubo above the likes of Paraswap, IDEX, and QuickSwap by FDV. Which are protocols that exist on highly active chains and have done significant volume numbers. (We don’t agree that directly comparing Ekubo to these protocols is the correct approach, but it helps with determining a rough heuristic of market pricing).
• Starknet’s TVL sits at $152.8M ~ 2.5x the implied FDV of Ekubo.

Ekubo looks like an amazing DEX which has already proven to capture the majority of the DEX trading volume market share on Starknet. However, this decision requires the DAO to take a bet on both Ekubo and Starknet which at the implied FDV and lack of information is rather optimistic and forward-looking.

6. [Temperature Check]: Delegation of UNI to Active but Underrepresented Delegates
Vote: For
Summary: This is an awesome opportunity for the DAO to directly empower their community and give existing delegates a goal and reward to work towards, in exchange for improving their participation rate.

We have voted for the program to elect 4 delegates for a total of 10M UNI to be delegated. Looking at the recent on-chain voting turnout, 10M should be credible enough to reach the voting quorum and therefore, require large delegates to vote instead of abstaining; knowing that the quorum will likely not be met.

[WintermuteGovernance]

[Temperature Check] Deploy Uniswap v3 on Rootstock (Bitcoin Sidechain)
Vote: Yes
Summary: We support the recognization of Uni V3 on RSK. We appreciate the effort that was put in by GFX, Wormhole, and IOV Labs in testing the waters before approaching the DAO. Furthermore, it’s great to see IOV Labs commit to funding liquidity in the early stages of the platform.

[Temperature Check] Lower Onchain Proposal Threshold
Vote: Lower PT from 2.5M UNI to 1M UNI
Summary: We agree with the rationale laid out in the proposal. Furthermore, since the delegation of UNI tokens to active but underrepresented delegates. The DAO is in a far better position to protect itself against potential malicious proposals. We look forward to seeing the impacts of these changes and welcoming new proposers to Uniswap.

[WintermuteGovernance]

General rationale regarding our Uniswap Revitalization and Growth votes:
Our votes were a function of a chain’s activity, competitor landscape, and future growth prospects. We also aired on the side of the program’s lower bound for the growth package, given most chains are rather new and this is the first instance of a program like this. For us, it makes more sense to start with a lower amount and assess the effects of this program after its completion to inform future decisions. Doing it this way allows the DAO to limit the amount of waste (if any) of tokens spent.

[Temp] Uni Onboarding Package - Linea
Vote: $250k
Summary: Linea has attracted solid activity and TVL. There is a decent monthly DEX volume, however, the competition still looks rather soft.

[Temp] Uni Onboarding Package - Scroll
Vote: $250k
Summary: There has been a nice pickup in DEX volume over the past couple of months, however, volumes are still moderate and competitor TVL remains rather low.

[Temp] Uni Onboarding Package - Polygon zkEVM
Vote: $250k
Summary: Overall chain volume and competitor TVL remain rather low.

[Temp] Uni Onboarding Package - zkSync
Vote: $500k
Summary: zkSync continues to see strong daily DEX trading volumes with competitors retaining meaningful TVL.

[Temp] Uni Onboarding Package - Blast
Vote: $500k
Summary: Blast has gained a lot of mindshare and developer interest given their Big Bang initiative. We expect competition to be strong at launch and therefore, support a higher growth package.

[Temp] Uni Onboarding Package - Base
Vote: $500k
Summary: Despite still being a market leader on Base, there is room for Uniswap to secure a more dominant position on a chain that continues to see increased activity and users.

[Temp] Uni Onboarding Package - Taiko
Vote: $250k
Summary: Taiko is currently in testnet. Given the competitor landscape and chain adoption are rather uncertain, we think $250k is sufficient.

Disclaimer: Wintermute is an investor in Taiko

[Temp] Uni Onboarding Package - Moonbeam
Vote: $250k
Summary: Moonbeam lacks trading volume and activity, especially on the DEX side. However, we do see value in supporting a growth package in the hopes of adoption returning in the future.

[Temp] Uni Onboarding Package - BSC
Vote: $1M
Summary: BSC is clearly dominated by PancakeSwap which facilitates a large portion of the chain’s volume. BSC is one of the largest chains and facilitates a unique user group. We think it’s important for Uniswap to seriously grow its market share here.

[Temp] Uni Onboarding Package - Mantle
Vote: $250k
Summary: Mantle has seen some great chain activity and usage, despite one DEX retaining a lot of the chain’s TVL, trading volume seems to be rather disbursed. Therefore, it shouldn’t be too hard to gain a decent market share.

[WintermuteGovernance]

Deploy Uniswap V3 on Zora
Vote: For
Summary: Zora presents a unique opportunity for Uniswap. While the chain itself isn’t necessarily DeFi heaving in the typical sense, the bustling developer, user, and artist communities on the chain generate a substantial amount of activity on the chain. Uniswap is poised to help facilitate the transfer of token rewards amongst such participants. We support the deployment of Uniswap V3 on Zora.

Uniswap Revitalization and Growth Proposal
Vote: For
Summary: As highlighted in our voting thread above, we support the winning Snapshot votes (their chains and winning incentive amounts) for the Uniswap Revitalization and Growth packages.

[WintermuteGovernance]

Activate Uniswap Protocol Governance
Vote: Yes, upgrade the factory owner
Summary: We support the proposed implementation by Erin & the UF. Establishing a system that directly links delegation to protocol fees should have a significant impact in increasing UNI supply that is active in governance voting.

We would’ve appreciated more time and discussion regarding the design of the smart contracts as we believe there are several avenues to actively research as a result of this change that could potentially lead to a better governance outcome. For example, the new setup mimics a DPoS system where delegates are validators. Under such a setup, delegators are able to charge ‘commissions’ in exchange for ensuring the growth and safety of the protocol.

We have also shared our concerns about the proposed immutability but this is simply a function of the reasons mentioned above. Nonetheless, we believe the proposal is fully in line with Uniswaps core principles and is a clear improvement for governance.

Uniswap V3 Fees: Factory Owner Amendment
Vote: Reject amendment
Summary: As mentioned above, we have shared our concerns about the immutability of the Activate Uniswap Governance proposal. However, we fully understand the nice properties such a system brings to Uniswap and its stakeholders. Furthermore, the constant governance stalemate due to legal concerns is holding back Uniswap from fostering a strong governance community. Therefore, we don’t see value in tweaking the probability of the above proposal passing due to the legal risk associated with the setOwner() function.

[WintermuteGovernance]

[Temp Check] Mobilizing the Uniswap Treasury
Vote: Launch Working Group
Summary: We support this initiative and think it’s long overdue for the DAO. The proposed structure seems fine and we look forward to the upcoming report.

[Temp Check] Onboard Uniswap to Sei
Vote: Incentivize with $500k
Summary: We support the onboarding of Uniswap to Sei, while their TVL isn’t as large as other chains, we think it’s important to bootstrap liquidity and ensure Uniswap is the dominant DEX for the new era of EVM parallelization.

Update Uni v3/v2 Deployment Process (March 2024)
Vote: Update Process
Summary: While we don’t think the current process needs changing and/or is bad, we are okay with trialling the proposed deployment process to see its effects on governance efficiency. Ultimately, it still should be up to delegates to have meaningful discussions around chain deployments, but the proposed veto method seems sufficient for now. In comparison to other delegates’ views, we don’t see it necessarily as a bad thing that the accountability committee will bring forward proposals as they have a far better understanding of the process and it provides a smoothing onboarding for new chains and their teams.

[Temp Check] Uniswap Onboarding Package - Manta
Vote: For
Summary: We support the recognization of Manta Pacific to v3 deployments and the $250k UNI incentive package. There is sufficient, TVL, and activity for us to feel comfortable spending DAO funds on supporting Uniswap’s growth there.

Uniswap Treasury Working Group (UTWG) Election
Vote: 50% Karpatkey, 25% Franklin DAO, 25% Steakhouse Financial Limited.
Summary: It was awesome to see such a strong turnout with great candidates. Our decision boiled down to the relevant experience each party has demonstrated inside and outside of Uniswap. Karpatkey & Steakhouse look after some of the largest DAO treasuries where they both do an amazing job and have a great reputation. Karpatkey specifically brings a lot of DeFi infra that can be particularly useful to this endeavour. FranklinDAO have proven their ability to provide immense value to DAOs Uniswap and other DAOs, and we think their broad depth of knowledge will be a great addition to the team with their relevant background experience.

[WintermuteGovernance]

DeFi Education Fund Temp Check & Options
Vote: For + 300k UNI
Summary: We find DEF’s work to be valuable to the entire ecosystem. While their initial execution was not exemplary, they’ve been receptive to feedback and have incorporated changes to their proposal. Lastly, while we are supportive, we don’t think Uniswap should be forking out excessive amounts of capital and this is why we opted for the lower end of funding.

[Temp Check] Uniswap Delegate Reward -3 Months-Cycle 1
Vote: Yes, Proceed
Summary: We were torn on our decision but ultimately decided to support the initial 3-month trial as we believe it can provide some valuable insight into future programs. The program incorporates some nice metrics that provide clear value to the DAO. Our main concern is that the DAO currently lacks a clear long-term vision & rationale behind why we need such a program. It seems like this is coming from a place of retroactive funding for delegates who have continuously contributed to Uniswap with little compensation. This argument certainly has merit and I think the DAO should be cautious of not losing the very people that provide significant value to stakeholders.

[Temp Check] Onboard Uniswap to Redstone
Vote: Deploy without incentives
Summary: Redstone is an exciting experiment and we think a Uniswap deployment fits nicely into its objective. However, it’s very early on for the chain and there has not been sufficient enough activity and users to justify an incentive program.

[WintermuteGovernance]

Uniswap Arbitrum LTIPP Matching
Vote: $500k
Summary: We believe that Uniswap should provide a decent matching incentive, but we are cautious of typical LM efficacy and therefore opted for $500k as we do not want to overspend on incentives.

[WintermuteGovernance]

[Temp Check] Uniswap Onboarding Package - Gnosis Chain
Vote: $250k
Summary: Despite a relatively high TVL for Gnosis Chain, we opted for a low onboarding package. $250k should be sufficient enough to bootstrap liquidity and put Uniswap in Top 2 for Dexes.

[WintermuteGovernance]

[TEMP CHECK] Uniswap Onboarding Package - OKX Chain
Vote: Against
Summary: We voted against this proposal as we do not think the proposed pools and chain activity justify an onboarding package. However, we will support the deployment of Uniswap V3 without the onboarding package.

[WintermuteGovernance]

[Temp Check] Forse Analytics for Uniswap Revitalization and Growth Program
Vote: Base 50%, Do not Proceed 50%
Summary: In our initial Temp Check feedback we asked for an additional chain and a findings report in order to be supportive of this proposal. However, after further thought, we are not so sure that the cost of the proposal is worth it from a DAO perspective and that it could make more sense to reevaluate it once more incentive packages have been deployed on chains that make the most sense to study. We voted for Base because in the initial onboarding package proposal, we found that Uniswap while dominant, had major competition and therefore, is worth assessing.