Stellar Submissions is a series of articles by MetricsDAO wherein we highlight bounty submission best practices by showcasing the grand prize winners of our bounty programs. Our goal with this is to sharpen the skills of on-chain analysts and raise the overall quality of bounty submissions.
This edition of Stellar Submissions highlights the round 5 grand prize winners of the Uniswap Bounty Program.
Grand Prize Winners
1. Giving a complete view
Analysis: Uniswap v3 Gas
Author: marqu
Stellar analyst marqu is back and this time he looks into the gas consumed by Uniswap v3 on Ethereum-maiinet from the beginning of 2022 until May 4. However, he does not just look at the gas from Uniswap v3 trades; he analyzes the gas consumption of all transactions involving Uniswap v3 contracts. That includes the provision and withdrawal of liquidity, position management, trading pair creation, and governance voting.
The total gas fees over the observed is around 74k ETH or USD 224M. On a daily basis, that is around 5-11% of total gas fees on Ethereum.
Another key finding is the trends of the average, minimum, and maximum gas prices.
As pointed out by marqu, the minimum and average prices track closely together. However, the max gas prices trend differently, showing a general upward trend throughout the year so far.
There are two things that made marqu’s submission truly standout. First is how comprehensive his analysis is. He covered all related actions to Uniswap v3, including governance actions. He also broke down the gas consumption on a per contract level, ensuring that the audience has a full view of which exact Uniswap contracts are consuming the most gas. It is easy to simply focus on the trading activity on Uniswap but its other facets are just as important such as providing and managing liquidity positions.
The second aspect that stands out is marqu’s well-structured write up. The context and data sources are all explained at the very beginning which helps guide the reader. From here, he starts with a general overview using high-level metrics and then systematically goes into a deeper view of Uniswap using the appropriate metrics. Lastly, a neat summary of findings ties it all together at the end.
Check out the full writeup here where marqu also shows how daily fees may (or may not) affect the number of transactions on Uniswap and a contract-level breakdown of gas fees paid.
2. Keeping it simple also works
Analysis: Uniswap: Living in a Multi-Chain World
Author: Zook
It is widely accepted that Uniswap is the leading decentralized exchange (DEX) in the space given its market share in terms of trading volume and total value locked (TVL). Returning stellar analyst Zook takes a look into Uniswap’s market position in different layer 2/side chains in terms of its TVL vs other DEXs and shows whether this market leadership persists on an individual chain level.
As of the end of April 2022, Sushiwap on Arbitrum has almost 3x the TVL of Uniswap. The former has USD 228M in TVL while the latter has around USD 83M.
On Optimism, the situation is reversed when comparing Uniswap with the next closest DEX in terms of TVL, Zipswap.
Uniswap has 4 times the TVL of Zipswap as of the end of April 2022, sitting at USD 44M compared to the latter’s USD 11M. It is worth noting that Zipswap only launched in early 2022 whereas Uniswap deployed on Optimism much earlier last July 2021.
First movers may have the advantage on L2s/side chains as you can see in the situation between Quickswap and Uniswap on Polygon. Quickswap, a Uniswap fork, launched in October 2020 whereas Uniswap only launched in late December 2021. The former has a TVL of USD 711M which is more than 5 times of what Uniswap has.
What makes this analysis great is that Zook keeps it simple and straight to the point. The goal was to show Uniswap’s position in terms of TVL in other chains compared to other leading DEXs. Zook shows this with the utmost clarity as he provided the relevant comparisons to drive his insights home.
Check out the full analysis here which is built on Canva.
3. Mix it up
Analysis: Uniswap Gas Guzzling
Author: doing
On the subject of gas consumption, doing also looks at the gas fees paid on Uniswap transactions. He focuses on the core contracts: Uniswap Router contracts, which are responsible for the swaps, and the Uniswap v3 Positions NFT contract which handles the LP tokens on Uniswap v3. He also compares the gas usage of Uniswap v3 and Uniswap v2 swaps by comparing their router contracts.
As you can see, v3 trades consume much more gas compared to v2. Part of the reason can be attributed to the higher market share of Uniswap v3 since it launched. Another reason, as pointed out by doing, is that v3 uses more gas per swap compared to v2.
Another interesting finding is that gas fees related to Uniswap are more volatile on a daily basis compared to the ones on the rest of Ethereum as you can see on the following log chart.
This could be due to the fact that different protocols on Ethereum have varying gas usage patterns. As analyzed by doing, the correlation of Uniswap v3’s gas consumption compared to the rest of the network is at a low 0.36.
In this submission, doing showcases his skills in SQL and Python. He mainly uses the Flipside platform to do his analysis. With the platform’s flexibility, he also supplements this by using Python to run a correlation and distribution analysis.
3 Key Takeaways
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Take a unique approach
With established tools and practices in place, you might assume that there are standard ways to showcase on-chain analyses. This is not true. This set of stellar analysts have shown that there is a lot of flexibility when it comes to data storytelling. While it might be risky to go against the norm, some of the best insights can only be uncovered when taking a different approach. This can range from what data you use, the medium you use to convey your insights, and even to the tool used itself.
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Balance complexity and simplicity
While it is encouraged that analysts give explore topics in the periphery, sometimes keeping it simple and hyperfocused on the topic works best. It is a matter of finding a balance between the two given the appropriate circumstances.
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Guide the reader
It is easy to put together a dashboard with just a bunch of charts compiled together. However, what makes a quality submission stand out is the analyst’s ability to relate these charts and metrics together with a woven narrative. As shown by the submissions this round, creating a write up or blog post is very useful when dealing with time bound data. It helps the reader fully understand your thought process and the insights you want to convey. Not only that, it also showcases your skill as a data storyteller.
Complete Set of Uniswap Bounty Grand Prize Winners, Round 5
- Uniswap v3 Gas by marqu
- Uniswap: Living in a Multi-Chain World by Zook
- Uniswap Gas Guzzling by doing
Stay tuned for the next set of Stellar Submissions!
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