Could DEXs evolve from “crypto trading tools” into “onchain securities liquidity infrastructure”?
1/ For the past few years, people have thought of Uniswap as a “token-swapping tool.” But after this July, it’s worth revisiting that description: when regulated securities, funds, and tokenized stocks also need to trade through AMMs, is Uniswap becoming something else?
This episode focuses only on the structure, not prices.
2/ Key shift: compliance moves from the “front-end gate” down to “the pool itself”
On July 23, Uniswap Labs announced Permissioned Pools, an open-source standard built on v4 hooks: before every swap, the pool checks an issuer-managed whitelist, and eligibility must also be verified before an LP position is minted. These checks happen at the protocol layer, not on the front-end page. Initial partners include Superstate, Securitize, and Europe’s Dowgo.
Superstate CEO Robert Leshner put it well: compliance for tokenized securities used to live at the application layer, like a gate at the entrance to the market. Now the gate has moved inside the market.
3/ A clever design: the protocol remains permissionless, while issuers control the rules
The official statement emphasized that ordinary v4 pools remain open as usual, and the protocol itself is still permissionless; control over the whitelist remains with issuers. It’s a division of responsibilities: Uniswap provides neutral trading rails, while issuers define “who gets to sit at the table.”
This also explains how it can bring together both Securitize, behind BlackRock BUIDL, and Superstate, which tokenizes stocks and funds. Issuers can connect to AMM liquidity without giving up control over compliance.
4/ More than AMMs: an RFQ path for institutions, too
In February this year, BUIDL connected to UniswapX through Securitize Markets, allowing holders to trade bilaterally around the clock, using RFQ quotes among whitelisted subscribers. UniswapX is a routing mechanism based on Dutch auctions and intents, meaning Uniswap offers more than just “pools”—it also provides a way to match large, bilateral trades.
It was also reported that in June, Uniswap brought tokenized securities trading to its website, wallet, and API, while institutional custody platforms such as Fordefi also integrated its trading API. The access points, routing, and pools are coming together into a complete stack.
5/ The latest development: Uniswap starts competing for the liquidity-routing gateway
On October 22, Uniswap v4’s Aggregator Hooks officially launched. The first integrations connect seven external liquidity sources across Ethereum, Base, and Robinhood Chain. According to the official announcement, these sources cover more than 90% of DEX trading activity on the relevant chains.
The key to this upgrade isn’t simply adding a few more pools, but enabling external liquidity to enter Uniswap’s trade routing.
Combined with the Permissioned Pools and UniswapX discussed above,
we can see three distinct layers:
Permissioned Pools: Enable specific assets to enforce access rules.
• UniswapX: Provides RFQ and routing for specific trading scenarios.
• Aggregator Hooks: Bring external liquidity into the trade path.
What Uniswap is competing for may not just be its own trading pools, but the gateway to liquidity when users trade. Its potential role is closer to onchain securities liquidity infrastructure than simply a crypto exchange.
6/ But “could change” doesn’t mean “has changed”: three practical challenges
① Depth: We discussed AMM performance with thinly traded assets in Issue 12; CLOB venues still dominate in some ecosystems.\u000b
② Whitelist fragmentation: Each issuer manages its own compliance list. The “identity silos” problem discussed in Issue 15 hasn’t gone away—it has simply moved to the pool level (this is an inference).\u000b
③ Regulatory classification: It remains to be seen whether regulators will recognize a permissionless protocol with pluggable compliance hooks as a compliant trading venue.
7/ Bringing it back to the UNI token
We already broke down UNI’s value-capture mechanisms (such as the fee switch) in Issue 06, so we won’t repeat that here.
The research framework we want to emphasize in this issue is this: if securities trading volume really does move onchain, how much UNI can capture will depend on whether issuers treat Uniswap as the “default rails,” or whether volume is diverted to CLOBs and institution-built venues.
Signals to keep tracking: the number of Permissioned Pools actually integrated, the share of real trading volume, progress on whitelist interoperability, and regulatory statements on compliance hooks.
8/\u000bRisk disclosure:
The “tokenized assets will reach $11 trillion by 2030” figure in the press release is a market estimate from the publisher, not an established fact. Permissioned Pools launched only recently, and adoption levels have yet to be validated. This is not investment advice, makes no price forecasts, and DYOR.
See you next time on the “Kelly Four-Coin Radar.”
#UNI #Uniswap #RWA #DeFi