Uniswap UNI Burn Vote Expands to BNB, Polygon and Celo
— By Tony Rabbit in news
Uniswap DAO is voting from May 24, 2026 on Proposal 96 (Protocol Fee Expansion: Vote 3) to extend protocol fees and UNI token burning to BNB Chain, Polygon and Celo. If approved, fee-and-burn would be live on 13 chains. Snapshot temperature check passed strongly supportive on May 21. Onchain vote runs about 5 days. Wormhole NTT handles BNB and Polygon bridging, Celo uses OP Stack rails. Burn address: 0xdead. Protocol fee is 1/5 of pool LP tier.
Uniswap DAO is voting from May 24, 2026 on Proposal 96 (Protocol Fee Expansion: Vote 3), the third step of the UNIfication program that would extend protocol fees and UNI token burning to BNB Chain, Polygon and Celo. If approved, fee-and-burn would be live on 13 chains in total, on top of the existing 10 networks already feeding the burn (Ethereum mainnet, Arbitrum, Base, OP Mainnet, Soneium, X Layer, Worldchain, Zora, Unichain and Ink). The Snapshot temperature check already passed strongly supportive on May 21, with the onchain vote scheduled to conclude within five days under the expedited UNIfication framework.
The expansion is significant because Uniswap on BNB Chain, Polygon and Celo collectively process meaningful daily volume that has, until now, not routed any fees to UNI burns. Activating fee collection on those chains turns dormant volume into structural buy-and-burn flow.
What Proposal 96 actually does
The UNIfication program is Uniswap's mechanism for turning the protocol fee switch into a permanent UNI buy-and-burn. Each time a swap clears on a participating chain, a slice of the pool fee (one fifth of the LP fee tier, so 0.06% on a 0.30% pool) gets deposited into a contract called TokenJar. To withdraw those fees, searchers must burn an equivalent value of UNI through a companion contract called Firepit, then bridge the burned tokens back to Ethereum mainnet and send them to the 0xdead address. The result is a continuous net reduction in UNI supply that scales with multi-chain Uniswap volume.
Proposal 96 extends that same plumbing to three new networks:
- BNB Chain: Wormhole's Native Token Transfer (NTT) standard handles cross-chain messaging from BNB back to mainnet.
- Polygon: Wormhole NTT again, with Polygon PoS as the source chain.
- Celo: Celo migrated to the OP Stack in 2025, so it inherits the same bridge architecture already used by OP Mainnet and Base.
The Snapshot temperature check passed with what delegates described as a strongly supportive vote on May 21, 2026. Under the UNIfication framework, the onchain vote runs for roughly five days from May 24, with execution following a short timelock if it passes.
Why three chains, why now
The three networks were chosen because they sit at the top of the "active Uniswap deployment, not yet burning" list. BNB Chain Uniswap volume has grown steadily through 2026 as Binance pushed more liquidity onchain. Polygon remains a top-tier Layer 2 for stablecoin volume and consumer transactions. Celo's pivot to the OP Stack made it interoperable with the same bridge infrastructure Uniswap already uses for Base and OP Mainnet, lowering the integration cost.
The timing reflects a broader Uniswap Foundation push to make UNI a value-accrual token rather than just a governance token. Coinbase Agentic.Market showed how aggressively newer protocols are routing fees back to native tokens, and Uniswap is moving in the same direction with a more conservative, fully onchain implementation. The expansion to 13 chains creates a meaningful aggregated burn rate that can be tracked on a dashboard and modelled by analysts.
UNI burn mechanics in one diagram
- Step 1: Swap clears on Uniswap on a participating chain. Pool LP fee captures 0.30% (or whatever tier).
- Step 2: 1/5 of the LP fee (0.06% on a 0.30% tier) deposits into TokenJar on that chain.
- Step 3: Searcher comes along, burns equivalent UNI value through Firepit to claim the fee.
- Step 4: Burned UNI bridges (Wormhole NTT for BNB and Polygon, OP Stack rails for Celo) back to Ethereum mainnet.
- Step 5: Mainnet contract sends the bridged UNI to the 0xdead address. Supply permanently reduced.
Numbers behind the expansion
- Total UNI supply: 1 billion (fixed cap)
- Chains currently active: 10 (Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, OP Mainnet, Soneium, X Layer, Worldchain, Zora, Unichain, Ink)
- Chains added by Proposal 96: 3 (BNB Chain, Polygon, Celo)
- Total chains if approved: 13
- Protocol fee share: 1/5 of LP fee tier (0.06% on a 0.30% pool)
- Burn destination: 0xdead on Ethereum mainnet
- Cross-chain rails: Wormhole NTT (BNB, Polygon), OP Stack (Celo)
- Onchain vote window: ~5 days from May 24, 2026
Impact on UNI and Uniswap
If Proposal 96 passes, the immediate effect is mechanical: more chains start contributing to the burn, the aggregate burn rate steps up. The real impact is over months, not days. UNI has spent most of 2026 trading as a governance-only token with a strong product but weak token economics. Activating fee burning on three meaningful-volume chains converts UNI into a token with a measurable, onchain-verifiable buyback program tied to protocol revenue.
Uniswap's strategic position also strengthens. Competing DEXes and aggregators including Kraken's Chainlink CCIP migration and Jupiter's tokenized equities push have been racing to differentiate on token economics. Uniswap's response is to deepen the fee-and-burn moat across more chains, raising the bar for any challenger that wants to compete on tokenholder economics rather than just volume.
Things to know
Where to track UNI burns
The most useful dashboards are Uniswap's own Firepit and TokenJar monitor pages, which show fees collected, UNI burned and net buy pressure per chain. DEXTools tracks the UNI/USDC and UNI/ETH pools across active chains and shows real-time price discovery. Onchain explorers (Etherscan for mainnet burn flows, BscScan for BNB Chain TokenJar) provide raw transaction-level visibility.
Once Proposal 96 executes, expect the official Uniswap Foundation dashboard to add tabs for BNB, Polygon and Celo within the first week. The integration is largely software-only since the cross-chain rails (Wormhole NTT and OP Stack) are already battle-tested by other Uniswap deployments.
Frequently asked questions
What is Uniswap Proposal 96?
Proposal 96 (Protocol Fee Expansion: Vote 3) is the Uniswap DAO governance proposal that activates protocol fees and UNI burning on BNB Chain, Polygon and Celo, adding three chains to the existing 10 already participating in the UNIfication program.
When does the Uniswap vote close?
The onchain vote opened May 24, 2026 and runs for roughly five days under the expedited UNIfication framework, putting the result in late May. The Snapshot temperature check already passed strongly supportive on May 21.
How does the UNI burn work?
Each swap on a participating chain sends 1/5 of the LP fee to a contract called TokenJar. Searchers burn UNI through Firepit to claim those fees, with the burned UNI bridged back to Ethereum mainnet and sent to the 0xdead address. The result is a continuous net reduction in UNI supply.
How many chains will burn UNI if Proposal 96 passes?
Thirteen chains in total: the existing 10 (Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, OP Mainnet, Soneium, X Layer, Worldchain, Zora, Unichain, Ink) plus the three added by Proposal 96 (BNB Chain, Polygon, Celo).
Where can I track UNI burns?
Use the Uniswap Foundation Firepit and TokenJar dashboards for burn metrics, DEXTools for UNI pool data across chains, and onchain explorers for raw transaction visibility.