Uniswap Foundation Delays Key Vote, Sparking Controversy; Legal Experts Say DeFi Protocols Neglect Token Holder Rights

The Uniswap Foundation has postponed a crucial vote that would determine the upgrade of the protocol's governance structure and fee mechanism to better reward $UNI governance token holders. Despite the Uniswap Foundation stating that this decision was 'unexpected' and apologizing for it, this is not the first time they have delayed a vote on implementing 'fee switch'. Cryptocurrency legal expert Gabriel Shapiro believes this is another example of DeFi protocols treating token holders as 'second-class' citizens, where their desires yield to the wishes of a small subset of stakeholders. Previously, the Uniswap Foundation postponed the $UNI staking and delegation rewards vote scheduled for last Friday, citing discussions with a stakeholder on issues that needed attention, requiring additional due diligence for a comprehensive review. Dan Robinson, a researcher at Paradigm, stated that a large VC firm attempted to manipulate the token governance process at the last minute and delay community proposals to advance their own 'pet' project.