Why is the asset management giant BlackRock buying UNI? A comprehensive analysis of BUIDL listing on Uniswap X

In February 2026, the world’s largest asset management firm, BlackRock, made a significant trust move into decentralized finance. By deploying its $2.2 billion tokenized U.S. Treasury bond fund BUIDL onto Uniswap X and simultaneously strategically purchasing Uniswap’s native governance token UNI, this financial giant managing over $14 trillion in assets officially made the historic leap from “observing DeFi” to “participating in DeFi.”

According to Gate Market data, as of 4:00 PM on February 13, 2026 (UTC+8), the spot price of UNI is $3.32, with a 24-hour trading volume of $5.57 million, and a current circulating market cap of approximately $2.11 billion. Although UNI briefly surged to a recent high of $4.57 on the day of the announcement, then gently retreated amid overall market adjustments and whale rebalancing, the impact of this event on UNI and the entire DeFi sector is far more profound than a single daily candle.

How does BUIDL integrate into Uniswap X?

First, it’s crucial to clarify a key fact: BlackRock did not simply add BUIDL tokens into Uniswap’s V2 or V3 liquidity pools like typical projects. Instead, it seamlessly embedded BUIDL into Uniswap X, a transaction protocol based on intent-driven (Intents-based) trading.

This choice carries a strong demonstrative effect.

BUIDL is currently the largest tokenized U.S. Treasury bond fund in the market, with its underlying assets fully backed by U.S. Treasuries, cash, and repurchase agreements. For such institutional-grade assets, traditional AMM (Automated Market Maker) pools face inherent obstacles such as impermanent loss, MEV (Miner Extractable Value) attacks, and regulatory compliance issues. Uniswap X’s RFQ (Request for Quote) framework provides an elegant solution to these problems.

In the actual trading process, Securitize Markets acts as the “compliance gatekeeper.” All investors participating in BUIDL trades must undergo pre-approval and be whitelisted, with asset thresholds not lower than $5 million; market makers are also vetted, with initial participants including Wintermute, Flowdesk, and Tokka Labs. Transactions are settled on-chain via tamper-proof smart contracts, enabling atomic, T+0 instant settlement, while gas fees and MEV risks are fully encapsulated.

Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo summarized this architecture precisely: “Bringing traditional finance trust and regulatory standards into the speed and openness of DeFi.”

For BlackRock, this isn’t just a symbolic “listing,” but a complete, compliant DeFi onboarding model that can be fully replicated and adopted by other traditional asset managers.

Why did BlackRock buy UNI? From “governance air” to “protocol rights”

If tokenizing BUIDL on-chain is a business-level cooperation, then BlackRock’s genuine purchase of UNI tokens is a strategic alliance at the capital level.

For a long time, the community has jokingly called UNI a “valueless governance token”—holders could only participate in community votes, without directly earning any share from Uniswap’s billions of dollars in daily trading volume. However, this status was fundamentally changed after the “UNIfication” proposal was activated in January 2026.

This proposal introduced a smart contract destruction mechanism combining Token Jar + Firepit: protocol fees from Uniswap V2, V3, and L2 networks’ Unichain aggregators are periodically funneled into the Token Jar; the only way to extract this value is through Firepit, which burns equivalent UNI tokens. This means that the protocol’s real cash flow is now programmatically transmitted to the secondary market, creating a continuous deflationary effect.

According to Talos data cited by Gate, in the 12 days before the proposal’s implementation, Uniswap’s annualized protocol fees reached approximately $26–27 million, corresponding to an annual destruction of about 4–5 million UNI tokens.

BlackRock’s decision to acquire UNI at this juncture demonstrates an extremely sharp capital intuition:

1. Asset allocation logic shift: UNI has evolved from a purely governance symbol into a productive asset with cash flow discount attributes. As BUIDL and other RWA (Real World Asset) trading volumes on Uniswap continue to grow, protocol fees captured will rise accordingly, accelerating UNI’s deflation.
2. Infrastructure influence: Holding UNI grants voting rights in Uniswap governance. BlackRock can leverage this to prevent discriminatory fee policies, promote standardized compliance hooks, and foster a more friendly trading environment for its tokenized asset ecosystem.
3. Signal transmission: As a benchmark managing $14 trillion in assets, BlackRock’s inclusion of UNI on its balance sheet signals to Wall Street that some DeFi blue-chip tokens have matured enough to be part of diversified asset allocations.

UNI’s current valuation and the redefinition of valuation logic

Following market-wide adjustments, UNI experienced a pulse-like surge on February 11 before entering a consolidation phase with decreasing volume.

Gate Market data (2026-02-13):

• Spot Price: $3.32
• 24-hour Range: $3.14 – $3.46
• 24-hour Trading Volume: $5.57 million
• Circulating Market Cap: $2.11 billion
• All-time Peak: $44.92 (2021)

In the short term, the dense trading zone lies between $3.52 and $3.68, with a breakout requiring daily trading volume exceeding $30 million; strong support is at around $2.80 (the 0.618 Fibonacci retracement level).

More importantly, the valuation model itself is undergoing an iteration. Previously, UNI was primarily priced based on trading volume market share and user growth—typical “Internet valuation” thinking. Now, with fee switches activated and programmatic destruction implemented, UNI is gradually shifting toward a “deflationary, equity-like asset.” Although the current market cap of $2.11 billion implies roughly a 207x protocol revenue multiple, indicating high growth expectations, this is a necessary pain point on the path to a mature valuation system for DeFi leaders.

Gate Research Institute’s neutral forecast (2026–2031):

Based on assumptions of RWA penetration, institutional adoption, and deflation rate, UNI’s long-term valuation center could gradually rise. The projected trading range for 2026 is $2.66–$4.33, and if on-chain market share of traditional assets surpasses 5% by 2031, the target price could reach $8.42 (a potential nominal return of +108%).

The “gradual compliance race” in DeFi and Gate’s ecosystem observation

Another deeper reason for BlackRock’s entry into DeFi is to explore a path acceptable to regulators for massive traditional capital.

Unlike the retail-dominated DeFi summer of 2021, this round of institutional involvement is characterized by “compliance first.” Although BUIDL is listed on Uniswap, trading permissions are strictly limited to qualified investor whitelists; market makers are vetted by Securitize; and at the smart contract level, RFQ frameworks are used instead of permissionless AMMs.

This “institution-first, then retail” gradual approach aligns with BlackRock’s risk control principles as a regulated entity and provides a reusable middleware layer for protocols like Uniswap to onboard trillions of traditional assets without sacrificing their permissionless core.

As a leading platform connecting global crypto investors, Gate continues to observe that although initial trading volume of BUIDL is limited, its symbolic significance far exceeds the volume itself. Uniswap founder Hayden Adams summarized it plainly: “This is the most important step towards ‘almost all value being on-chain trading.’”

Summary

BlackRock’s first foray into DeFi, via BUIDL integrated into Uniswap X and holding UNI tokens, is essentially a comprehensive stress test of traditional financial giants’ engagement with decentralized infrastructure.

The results will unfold in stages: in the short term, the actual trading volume growth of BUIDL on Uniswap X; in the medium term, whether the “UNIfication” deflation model can sustain under high trading volumes; and in the long term, the final regulatory stance on the “protocol fee—token burn” framework.

For investors and builders focused on the UNI ecosystem, 2026 is destined to be a watershed year. UNI is undergoing a value leap from “trading token” to “protocol rights,” and BlackRock’s involvement provides the most substantial institutional endorsement for this transition.

Gate will continue to provide real-time market data, in-depth research, and secure trading services for UNI and other top digital assets worldwide. In the approaching era of institutional DeFi, maintaining rationality, focusing on fundamentals, and identifying true value capturers will be key to navigating cycles.