Uniswap V4: Although it is powerful, why don't developers buy it?

Original text: bitcoinist, compilation: Blockchain Knight

Uniswap, a well-known decentralized exchange, launched its fourth version.

Although the new version is more feature-rich, this has attracted complaints from developers, who oppose the use of BSL (Business Source License, commercial source code license).

Uniswap v4 introduced a range of new features and customizability, and the latest version added a feature called a “hook,” a type of smart contract that allows developers to scale on top of existing liquidity pools.

Sara Reynolds, the project’s lead smart contract engineer, described the functionality of hooks as “virtually limitless in terms of customization possibilities.”

However, the release of Uniswap v4 also sparked dissatisfaction among members of the open source community, as they did not recognize the licenses associated with the new updates.

Uniswap chose to use BSL 1.1 in v4, continuing what they did in Uniswap v3, and the BSL license will allow Uniswap exclusive access to the innovation for the next four years.

While this license grants public access to the code and permits the right to copy, modify, and redistribute the code, the code cannot be used for commercial or production purposes for up to four years.

After that, the license will be changed from the BSL license to the permanent GPL license (General Purpose License, General Public License).

Developers in the open source community believe that Uniswap’s so-called “open source marketing” statement is misleading.

Gabriel Shapiro, general counsel of investment firm Delphi Labs, said in a series of tweets that BSL is a tax on innovation and may slow down the development of the DeFi space.

In his opinion, without looking at the code of Uniswap v4, it will be difficult for developers to build an AMM (Automated Market Maker, Automated Market Maker) from scratch.

The BSL is a tax on the ability to innovate, and anyone who looks at its code, even once, and then writes similar code is at risk of a copyright claim.

These risks about copyright are why big tech companies use elaborate “clean room” procedures.

In short, it is difficult to find a team of developers who are both capable of writing a new AMM from scratch and have never seen the Uniswap v4 code. Maybe they are not infringing, but they need to show evidence to prove it.

In response, Uniswap founder Hayden Adams and his team held a YouTube livestream to resolve the controversy.

Lead engineer Noah Zinsmeister said four years was not a long time, and that the BSL license struck a reasonable balance between encouraging innovation and making money from the project.