UNI: What Holding Uniswap’s Token Means

UNI is Uniswap’s governance token. If you hold it, its main use is voting on proposals about the protocol, including changes to how it is run and how treasury funds are used. You can also delegate voting power where supported, but delegation does not transfer your tokens to the delegate.

Holding UNI does not by itself give you a share of Uniswap’s trading fees, guarantee income, or make you a liquidity provider. Swapping tokens on Uniswap is a separate activity, and providing liquidity involves depositing assets into a pool with its own risks. Check the wording and status of a proposal before voting: a vote can affect the protocol, but it cannot remove the market or technical risks of using it.

UNI is associated with Ethereum and is also listed as issued on Heco, Avalanche, xDai, Optimism, Arbitrum, Polygon, Harmony, Unichain, Near and BNB Chain. It is not the native coin of any of those networks; it is a token used for governance. The exact UNI token available to you can depend on the network and the wallet or exchange you use.

Some cross-chain versions may be bridged representations rather than the original Ethereum token. Before receiving or sending UNI, check that the network and token contract match the service you intend to use. A wallet showing a token called “UNI” is not enough to confirm that it is the correct asset. Sending tokens to an address on the wrong network can make them difficult or impossible to recover. Network support can also differ between exchanges, wallets and Uniswap deployments.

UNI has a stated maximum supply of 1 billion tokens. As of 2026-11-08, about 607.9 million were circulating and total supply was about 886.1 million. Those figures can change as tokens enter or leave circulation. The difference between circulating and total supply means not all tokens counted in the total were counted as circulating at that date.

On the same date, UNI was about $7.11, with a market capitalization of about $4.32 billion and fully diluted valuation of about $6.30 billion. These are snapshots, not stable values. UNI’s market price can respond to broader crypto market moves, demand for governance participation, expectations about Uniswap and changes in token availability. A larger market cap or a high trading volume does not guarantee liquidity at the price you expect, or predict future performance.

You can hold UNI through a supported crypto exchange or in a self-custody wallet that supports the network where your tokens are held. With exchange custody, the provider controls the keys and handles on-platform transfers. With self-custody, you control the keys and are responsible for protecting them, including your recovery phrase. Never share that phrase or enter it into a site or message claiming to provide support.

If you receive UNI, confirm the token and network before accepting or transferring it. If you move it from an exchange to a wallet, check the exchange’s withdrawal network against the wallet’s receiving network. For voting, confirm that your chosen wallet or governance interface supports the relevant proposal and network. These are general ways people access and store tokens, not a recommendation to acquire UNI.

A UNI transfer usually requires a network fee paid in that network’s native asset, not in UNI. The amount varies with network congestion and the action you take. A simple transfer can cost less than a swap or other contract interaction, but there is no single fee for moving UNI across every supported chain.

If you swap UNI, you may also face a pool fee, price impact and slippage—the difference between the expected and executed price. Moving tokens between networks through a bridge can add bridge charges as well as fees on the networks at both ends. Bridges also introduce separate technical and custody risks. Check the estimated total cost in the wallet or service before confirming, and leave enough native currency for fees. A transfer sent without enough gas may fail, while the network can still charge a fee for the failed transaction.

UNI’s risks include price volatility, mistakes when selecting a network or token contract, and loss of access to a self-custody wallet. Bridged tokens add bridge and cross-chain risks, while using Uniswap pools can expose traders and liquidity providers to risks that are separate from simply holding UNI. A token balance also does not guarantee that you can influence a decision: voting power and participation can be unevenly distributed, and proposals may not pass or produce the result you expect.

Before you vote or use a third-party service, check the proposal details, contract address and transaction permissions. Be cautious of unsolicited messages, fake governance pages and requests for your recovery phrase. Do not treat a past price, high trading volume or a successful proposal as protection against loss. Keep only the keys and permissions you understand, and review wallet approvals that allow contracts to access tokens.

UNI launched in 2020 as Uniswap’s governance token. It was created to let holders participate in decisions about the protocol, rather than serving as a coin needed to pay Ethereum network fees. Uniswap itself is a decentralized exchange that uses liquidity pools to facilitate token swaps; owning UNI is different from trading through those pools or supplying assets to them.

UNI’s recorded all-time high was $44.92 on 2021-05-02, and its recorded all-time low was $1.03 on 2020-09-16. These past prices provide historical context, not a guide to what UNI may be worth later. Uniswap has continued to operate across multiple networks, but deployments and token support can vary. If you are evaluating a past proposal or token movement, check the specific network and date: governance activity, supply figures and market conditions can change over time.