GFX Labs is Deploying Uniswap V3 to Bitcoin Sidechain Rootstock

GFX Labs is bringing Uniswap to Bitcoin.

The company, which develops DeFi products, will deploy trading platform Oku later this week to Bitcoin sidechain Rootstock, Getty Hill, the co-founder of GFX Labs, told The Defiant. Oku uses Uniswap V3’s smart contracts to source liquidity and facilitate trades.

Rootstock is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and has $114M in total value locked (TVL), according to DeFi Llama.

It’s a big move — Uniswap is a flagship project in DeFi and generated a large amount of its success on Ethereum, where it first launched. Now its contracts are live on Rootstock, a player in the “build on Bitcoin,” movement which has been gaining traction all year with the likes of Ordinals, BRC20s, and smart contract platforms like Stacks.

No Unicorn Branding

Hill added that GFX Labs plans to deploy Oku, and by extension Uniswap V3, to three more chains in the near future.

To be sure, GFX Labs isn’t bringing Uniswap’s distinct pink-hued branding to Rootstock. The deployment will be wrapped in Oku’s interface. Still, the launch is a reminder of the remixable paradigm that is DeFi.

While Uniswap V3’s license expired last April, meaning anyone can legally use the code, Hill says the advantage for Uniswap holders in having GFX Labs do the deployment is that UNI holders can vote on key parameters to the protocol.

These include the famous “fee switch,” which can potentially charge a percentage on trades and return value to Uniswap’s DAO. GFX Labs’ deployments typically happen with the approval of Uniswap governance.

EVM-Compatible Chains

Hill added that it’s also about being early on EVM-comptable chains.

“Having V3 on a new protocol, Rootstock or other, means less availability for competing concentrated liquidity protocols to be there,” he said.

GFX Labs received a $1.6M grant from Uniswap Foundation in September 2022 to build Oku. So far, the company has launched Uniswap V3, through a deployment of Oku, on seven chains, including Ethereum, Optimism and Arbitrum.