Uniswap founder Hayden Adams has outlined his case for why automated market makers, or AMMs, should sit at the center of the tokenization wave reshaping global finance as markets adapt to demand for always-on infrastructure.

His remarks come as Uniswap has accelerated its own effort to win a larger share of the tokenized stocks market, which is only one part of onchain real-world asset deposits nearing $4 billion, according to Cryptopolitan reporting.

Why Uniswap's founder says AMMs are better for tokenized markets

Adams' core argument for blockchain infrastructure and tokenized rails is that blockchains separate execution, custody, and settlement into different layers, while traditional market makers combine those functions.

That structure, he argues, concentrates participation among a small number of established firms that can handle the vertical integration required. By contrast, Adams says blockchain technology lowers the barrier to entry.

AMMs are the mechanism behind that argument. The model Uniswap helped popularize after launching on Ethereum in 2018 prices trades through smart-contract liquidity pools rather than designated dealers, letting users with tokens supply liquidity themselves.

In the scenario he described, AMMs are especially well suited to closely related asset pairs. He said passive liquidity in those markets carries lower inventory risk while still offering costs that compare favorably with those of large professional trading desks.

Adams expects the onchain migration of assets to continue, which he believes will reorganize trading around related pairs, a limited number of cross-chain routes, and broader market access. He also expects passive AMM strategies to begin operating in a role similar to index funds.

His latest comments follow his January disagreement with critics of AMMs who argued that undercompensating liquidity providers is a structural flaw. At the time, Cryptopolitan reported that Adams pointed to Uniswap's pool growth as evidence that AMM liquidity is easier to reuse as collateral than alternatives.

The tokenized market has expanded sharply

Adams' argument comes amid a rapid expansion in real-world asset deposits. Per DeFiLlama data cited by Cryptopolitan on August 18, RWA deposit stakes have increased roughly sixfold over the past 12 months, rising from $650.88 million to about $3.98 billion.

Total tokenized issuance across the sector has reached $34.55 billion.

The expansion extends beyond crypto-native projects: BlackRock, the largest asset manager, launched its tokenized BUIDL money-market fund in March 2024, and Franklin Templeton runs an on-chain US government money fund.

Uniswap has also been active in the market for global, self-custodial, 24/7 trading. As of August 13, it said it supported more than 190 Robinhood stock tokens across its protocol, apps, and API. One tokenized SPY pair recorded $33 million in trading volume over 12 days.

Those listings build on Robinhood's move into the space earlier this summer, when the brokerage began offering tokenized US stocks and ETFs to customers in the European Union.

The company has also sought to work directly with regulated issuers. In July, it introduced Permissioned Pools, a v4 hook that limits trading to wallets on an issuer's approved list. Securitize, Superstate, and Dowgo were named as launch partners. Securitize also acts as transfer agent for BlackRock's BUIDL fund, linking Uniswap's compliance-gated pools to one of the firms at the center of institutional tokenization.

The push toward permissioned design comes amid a shifting US regulatory backdrop for DeFi: after issuing a Wells notice to Uniswap Labs in April 2024, the SEC closed its investigation into the firm in February 2025.

UNI, however, has not matched that momentum. CoinMarketCap showed the token trading near $3.25 on the day of Adams' post, with a market capitalization of about $2.03 billion, far below earlier levels this year.