a16z vs Jump: The VC Battle Behind Uniswap's Cross-Chain Expansion
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a16z vs Jump: The VC Battle Behind Uniswap's Cross-Chain Expansion
A battle among behind-the-scenes investors could influence the cross-chain bridge used in Uniswap's next move.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsWritten by: Frank Chaparro, Michael McSweeney
Compiled by: TechFlow
In a community governance vote held between January 27 and January 31, Wormhole won the selection to become the cross-chain bridge between Uniswap and BNB Chain. A total of 8,000 addresses participated in the vote, representing 45 million UNI governance tokens. Wormhole received 62% support, with LayerZero ranking second at 37%. Wormhole will ultimately enable Uniswap v3 users on BNB Chain to participate in Ethereum-based governance processes of the Uniswap DAO.
Summary:
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A behind-the-scenes battle between investors could influence which cross-chain bridge Uniswap adopts next.
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For now, Wormhole appears to be the choice—but this is not yet final.
The community conducted a "temperature check" vote to determine which cross-chain bridge would be used for the decentralized exchange’s third iteration, with the majority supporting Wormhole.
But there's a catch.
Today’s outcome is technically not final. A formal on-chain vote approving Wormhole as the cross-chain bridge between Ethereum and BNB Chain has not yet taken place.
However, according to three sources, a power struggle between major crypto investors behind the scenes could shift the result in another direction—one involving hundreds of millions of dollars.
The conflict involves venture capital firms a16z and Jump, each backing LayerZero and Wormhole respectively. One source familiar with the process said that a16z, which holds 15 million voting tokens, was unable to participate in the temperature check due to its token custody setup.
Eddy Lazzarin, an investment partner at a16z, appeared to confirm these issues in a forum post, stating the firm couldn't take part in the temperature check.
"To be perfectly clear, if we were technically able to do so, a16z would vote our 15 million voting tokens for LayerZero in any future Snapshot vote," Lazzarin wrote. "So, for the purposes of 'temperature checks,' count us that way."
Another source noted that the Uniswap Foundation has not indicated whether it will honor its written commitment to LayerZero. According to official results today, Wormhole won the vote by approximately 11 million votes.
Supporters of Wormhole hope a16z's eventual vote aligns with the community temperature check. “I’d be shocked—and I mean truly shocked—if a16z went against the community vote and tried to block it,” said someone close to the project. “That would be genuinely egregious.”
An a16z spokesperson confirmed the firm plans to participate in any on-chain vote. As of publication time, Jump had not commented on this report.
The debate between the two bridges partly centers on perceived security differences among Wormhole, LayerZero, or other contenders. Cross-chain bridges have been frequent targets of attacks, including a $325 million exploit against Wormhole in February last year.
Representatives said that late Monday, both LayerZero and Wormhole supporters attempted to pressure representatives holding Uniswap tokens to vote for their respective solutions.
Beyond security concerns, there is also a financial dimension—specifically, the winning bridge could gain access to substantial staked assets once integration goes live. As a result, investors tied to the selected protocol may stand to reap significant windfalls.
When contacted for comment, LayerZero emphasized Lazzarin’s forum post, saying: "We believe the purpose of a temperature check is to vote on the intent of governance."
“Given these facts, we believe LayerZero was the preferred bridge in the temperature check, but we believe the Uniswap Foundation should include both options in the final on-chain vote, as that is how governance issues should be decided—and always have been decided—within Uniswap,” the startup said.
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