Web3 infrastructure developer ConsenSys, maker of the popular MetaMask digital wallet, has cast 7.03 million votes for a proposal that would see decentralized exchange Uniswap v3 protocol deployed on the BNB Chain, according to data from Tally. The vote is owned by the amount of UNI owned by ConsenSys, which is approximately $47.5 million. At the time of writing, 77.56% of participants agreed with the proposal, with 22.07% against it. The week-long voting process will close on February 10.
As Cointelegraph previously reported, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz voted against the proposal. A16z, who reportedly has 55 million UNI tokens, chose 15 million UNI against the move because it relies on the Wormhole bridge and instead supports using LayerZero as an interoperability protocol. LayerZero Labs is part of the a16z portfolio and raised $135 million in a funding round in March, at a valuation of $1 billion.
In January 2022, Wormhole suffered a major exploit that resulted in the loss of $321 million in Wrapped Ether (wETH) tokens. Since then, Wormhole is now secured by 19 validators, has been audited 25-plus times by leading companies and has passed all security assessments.
The A16z vote was a controversial part of the crypto community as the voter turnout was less than 7% for the remaining proposal, which still passed the required quorum. As a result, a16z can influence the voting process disproportionately with only 15 million UNIs out of 762 million UNIs in circulation. Critics say the move interferes with the decentralized nature of Uniswap by concentrating voting power in the VC.
How is that possible? $ UNI owners outside of a16z, make sure that there are no hidden conditions or other influences in the outside group of a16z or related parties?
Is everyone supposed to just take your word for it? pic.twitter.com/4uGLJOsnjK
— DefiMoon (@DefiMoon) February 7, 2023