‘Next Stop, $1 Trillion’: Uniswap Celebrates $500B in L2 Volume

On Thursday, the decentralized exchange (dex) and automated market maker (AMM) Uniswap revealed that transaction volumes on the platform’s layer two (L2) solutions have surpassed the $500 billion threshold.

Half a Trillion and Counting: Uniswap’s Layer 2 Expansion Shatters Records

Since its debut on Ethereum mainnet on Nov. 2, 2018, Uniswap has significantly evolved, expanding its reach to include various other networks and Ethereum L2 solutions. It currently ranks as the sixth-largest decentralized finance (defi) protocol, boasting a total value locked (TVL) of $6.241 billion.

On Jan. 16, citing insights from Dune Analytics, Uniswap highlighted this major achievement in L2 volume activity on X. “New year, new milestone,” Uniswap said. “L2s just crossed $500B in all-time volume on the Uniswap Protocol—Next stop, $1T.”

Source: Dune Analytics

Data from Dune reveals that a substantial portion of Uniswap’s layer two (L2) transaction volume occurred in 2024. The statistics cover activity on platforms such as Arbitrum, Polygon, Optimism, Base, Blast, World Chain, Zksync, and Zora. At the beginning of 2024, Uniswap’s L2 volumes stood at $196.19 billion. As of today, that figure has climbed to $501.66 billion, indicating that $305.47 billion in volume has been processed since Jan. 2024.

At the start of the year, gas fees paid by L2s for posting transaction data and verifying states on Ethereum’s mainnet were steep. For example, on March 10, 2023, three L2s collectively paid $1.4 million in gas fees. However, that “rent” paid to Ethereum, or layer one (L1), has seen a sharp reduction, with daily rates frequently below $150,000. Uniswap is also connected to 28 different blockchains (including L2s), according to data from defillama.com.