Uniswap Founder Burns 99% of HayCoin Supply, Details

On October 20, Hayden Adams, the founder of the prominent decentralized exchange Uniswap, made a public announcement on X, revealing that he had burned a staggering 99% of the HayCoin (HAY) supply due to apprehensions about price speculation.

Uniswap Founder Introduced HAY for Testing Purposes

Notably, five years ago, Hayden Adams introduced the HAY token for testing purposes, predating the launch of the decentralized Uniswap protocol. He established a small-scale test liquidity pool using a minute portion of the total token supply, reserving over 99.9% of the HAY tokens in his wallet. Notably, only a few weeks ago, the token was experiencing a surge in trading activity, resembling meme coins and reaching six-figure price levels.

Treating HAY Like a Memecoin

He states: Was extremely surprised to see people buying and selling significant dollar amounts this past week, treating it like a memecoin. Crypto can be weird sometimes.”

He added: “Ultimately, I’m uncomfortable owning almost the entire supply (~99.99%) of a token that people are memeing and speculating on, so I decided to burn the full amount in my wallet (”valued” at an absurd ~$650b).

Attention and Concerns

Adams’ decision on X garnered attention and raised concerns. Apart from its effects on HAY’s price, users highlighted that the token burning might potentially be viewed as a taxable event.

A crypto user stated: “Assuming a cost basis of $0, a ~$650 billion disposal gives rise to ~$128 billion long-term capital gains liability.”

Uniswap Founder Sold HAY Prior to Burn?

Some individuals proposed an alternative approach, suggesting that the Uniswap founder could have sold the tokens prior to their destruction and then contributed the resulting profits to a charitable cause.

In the previous month, Adams made a statement regarding the departure of a developer widely recognized as AzFlin within the crypto sphere. The reason for this separation was explicitly stated as a misalignment with the decentralized exchange‘s principles. This decision was precipitated by a controversy in which Uniswap found itself entangled.