Uniswap Foundation unveils timeline for v4 launch

The Uniswap Foundation has revealed their vision for the launch of Uniswap’s highly anticipated version 4 (v4), with the protocol expected to go live within the next four months.

Details of the launch were laid out in a post on the Uniswap governance forum. It has been envisioned in terms of three milestones. While the first one was achieved on 13 June when the protocol repo was opened for public view and contribution, the other two depend on Ethereum’s upcoming Cancun hard fork.

The successful implementation of the Cancun upgrade, targeted by the end of September, will open the gates for the second milestone where the protocol code would be frozen in an audit process. The v4 codebase will then be subject to extensive auditing before it is deployed. The team’s estimated time till the final deployment ranges from one to four months.

Erin Koen, the governance lead at the Uniswap Foundation, highlighted that contrary to v2 and v3 protocol upgrades, which were delivered fully-baked, v4 is currently undergoing active development. In this reinvention of Uniswap, the team is introducing a new concept called “hooks”.

On 13 June, a draft code was released, which indicated a shift towards a more modular exchange structure. This would predominantly be through the incorporation of “hooks”, which are smart contracts that will facilitate additional customisation in Uniswap’s liquidity pools. It would be made possible through methods such as dynamic fees, on-chain limit orders, and customised on-chain oracles.

The v4 version would also feature a “flash accounting” system that will help in lowering fees for liquidity providers. Instead of transferring assets into and out of pools after each swap, the new method would transfer only net balances.

The post also highlighted that the given timeline was “purely indicative”. This was because there were chances that the Cancun hard fork could be delayed, which would then extend the audit process. On top of this, the protocol could be subjected to other security testing.