UC Berkeley student group becomes 10th largest Uniswap delegate

Blockchain at Berkley, a student-run blockchain organization, has become the tenth-largest delegate for the Uniswap exchange, highlighting the diverse groups involved with the emerging DeFi platform.

The student group has amassed 2.5 million votes, where it’s tied with three other organizations, according to Sybil, an Ethereum governance tool. That gives Blockchain at Berkley a vote weight of 2.336%. Dharma is the largest delegate with 16,659,333 votes, or 14.632%.

Verifying ourselves as a @UniswapProtocol #UNIDelegate on Sybil️https://t.co/SuuzI9Tj7Yaddr:0x458cEec48586a85fCFEb4A179706656eE321730Esig:0xd18f9512640a34b30aa63ac13f6f8281971f2ee54ecd789c9311f57ace51a399707e37bb8b417b8ed9b54c9d6db98b8e83935c45d7521219a79fc3bb2f2eda161b

— Blockchain at Berkeley (@CalBlockchain) December 21, 2020

Founded in Oct 2016, Blockchain at Berkeley describes itself as a “hub for blockchain innovation” providing consulting, design and education services. Its partners include Ethereum, Universal Protocol and Hyperledger.

Blockchain at Berkeley executive Katherine Plotz told Cointelegraph that her team now conducts meetings "to go over the Uniswap and Compound proposals, looking at them from all angles and seeing what the pros and cons are, before casting a vote."

Andrew Kirillov, the organization's head of education, added:

"This opportunity to participate in governance is perhaps the best context our members could have for future contributions in the blockchain space [...] We hope to show to the ecosystem just how much thought we put into our analysis of the space..."

Uniswap’s first governance vote in October ended in failure after the delegates were unable to meet the minimum 40-million-vote threshold needed for approval. A second vote cast on Oct. 31 was defeated for a similar reason. Blockchain at Berkley didn’t participate in either of the two votes.

Uniswap has emerged as the largest decentralized exchange, though its governance has drawn scrutiny. Industry observers have commonly complained about UNI whales, who they view as controlling the ecosystem. Earlier this month, Uniswap's lifetime volumes topped $50 billion across 26,000 trading pairs, highlighting the growing utility of decentralized finance exchanges. 

Blockchain at Berkeley did not immediately respond to a request for comment.