Uniswap DAO members lean towards rejection of branded Visa debit card

Members of Uniswap governance are not keen on the idea of a Visa debit card branded with the DeFi exchange’s iconic unicorn logo.

More than half of the votes cast in a so-called temperature check poll are giving the move a thumbs down, according to data from off-chain DAO voting platform Snapshot.

Yet this lack of support doesn’t mean the plan is dead. Instead, some delegates said the DAO does not have the power to direct the use of Uniswap’s branding.

Neat idea

“Voted against this proposal – although the idea is neat, I don’t think it’s a decision that the DAO has much say over,” Uniswap delegate and head of governance at Michigan Blockchain Abdullah Umar said on the governance forum. “Unless the DAO attains some sort of trademark licensing or white-labeling authority, this proposal should not pass.”

The question under consideration is an important one: Should the DAO governing the biggest decentralised exchange in crypto call the shots on branding and intellectual property rights?

Fine print

While the fine print dictates that the venture’s development arm — Uniswap Labs — calls the shots on such moves, the debate has struck a chord with the exchange’s decision-makers.

Last Friday, Fiat24, a Swiss crypto bank, proposed launching a Visa debit card emblazoned with the Uniswap logo. Fiat24 enables users to perform crypto debit card transactions via Arbitrum, a layer 2 blockchain.

Fiat24 would like to make the Uniswap Visa Card available in 27 countries in the European Union, and compatible with Apple Pay and Google Pay.

But the hitch is that Uniswap’s DAO does not have a say in the matter, said Ignas, a pseudonymous DeFi researcher.

“According to their [Uniswap Labs] terms of service, all the branding belongs to Uniswap Labs, therefore the DAO shouldn’t vote on the branded card,” Ignas told DL News.

Necessary approvals

Indeed, Uniswap’s terms of service, which were updated in March, stated that all intellectual property belongs to Uniswap Labs, the developer of the protocol.

It’s possible having the DAO’s buy-in would make green-lighting a debit card smoother. Fiat24 responded on the forum that it has contacted Uniswap Labs.

“We can assure you that we will get all necessary approvals from both DAO and the owner of the logo before we implement the proposal,” Fiat24 said.

The temperature check poll will conclude on October 27. Neither Fiat24 nor Uniswap Labs immediately replied to DL News’ request for comment.

Osato Avan-Nomayo is our Nigeria-based DeFi correspondent. He covers DeFi and tech. To share tips or information about stories, please contact him at osato@dlnews.com.