Uniswap founder Hayden Adams has shared new details about how Uniswap.com ended up in Sam Bankman-Fried’s hands before Uniswap Labs later recovered the domain through a legal proceeding.
Adams said Uniswap had previously declined to buy the domain after its owner sought a seven-figure price. According to Adams, Bankman-Fried later acquired the domain for seven figures and redirected it to a fork of Uniswap.
Adams said the way the domain was being used eventually gave Uniswap’s legal team a route to recover it without purchasing it. A 2021 World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) decision confirms that Uniswap Labs successfully obtained the domain through an administrative proceeding.
Fun fact, the og owners of HTTPS://T.CO/BRVDS5BRCA wanted 7 figures, but we refused to pay that amount
So SBF bought it (for 7 figures) and pointed it to a fork – I guess to flex / mess with us
This malicious use of the domain was enough for our legal team to get it for free HTTPS://T.CO/ZV0YJHDVZG
— Hayden Adams 🦄 (@haydenzadams) SEPTEMBER 20, 2026
However, the decision does not identify Bankman-Fried as the buyer or verify the seven-figure transaction described by Adams.
Adams Says SBF Bought Uniswap.com After Uniswap Rejected The Asking Price
Adams revisited the history of Uniswap.com in a post on X, saying the domain had originally been offered to Uniswap for what he described as a seven-figure price. He said Uniswap Labs decided not to pay that amount before Bankman-Fried eventually acquired the domain.
Adams said Bankman-Fried then pointed Uniswap.com to a fork of Uniswap. He also speculated that the reason for the purchase was to “flex” or “mess with us,” although that is Adams’ characterisation rather than a documented explanation from Bankman-Fried.
The details about the purchase price and Bankman-Fried’s involvement come from Adams’ recent account. The available WIPO record does not identify Bankman-Fried as the person who acquired the domain, nor does it document a seven-figure payment.
The WIPO case, Universal Navigation Inc. d/b/a Uniswap Labs v. Registration Private, Domains By Proxy, LLC / Future XXX, was filed by Uniswap Labs in May 2021. The record says the domain had been registered in 2000 and that the respondent acquired it on April 7, 2021. By the time of the complaint, Uniswap.com was redirecting visitors to SushiSwap.
Moreover, a report states that in May 2021, someone had purchased Uniswap.com and redirected it to SushiSwap. The report said the identity of the buyer was unclear at the time, while SushiSwap figure 0xMaki said the SushiSwap team had not purchased the domain.
WIPO Record Shows How Uniswap Recovered The Domain
The WIPO proceeding provides the clearest documented account of how Uniswap Labs eventually recovered Uniswap.com. In its September 2021 decision, WIPO found that the domain was confusingly similar to Uniswap’s trademark and that its use created a risk that visitors could believe the site was associated with Uniswap.
The respondent argued that Uniswap’s open-source software meant the name could be used as a domain. WIPO rejected that argument and found the registration and use of the domain to be in bad faith. The panel ordered the domain to be transferred to Uniswap Labs on September 3, 2021.
The redirect to SushiSwap was relevant to the dispute because SushiSwap had emerged in 2020 as a fork of Uniswap. One of the reports on SushiSwap’s early growth details how the project developed from a Uniswap fork. The domain dispute has also drawn reactions from crypto figures such as Hunter Horsley (CEO of Bitwise) and Justin Liao (Founder and CEO of Parafield AI) following Adams’ recent comments.
Another X user, EthereumPrivacy, stated a different interpretation of the episode, raising questions about the use of legal proceedings and focusing on Bankman-Fried’s alleged involvement.
Discussion around the original 2021 redirect can also be found in a Reddit thread from May 2021, where users discussed the domain’s move to SushiSwap. Those comments reflect community speculation at the time rather than evidence establishing who purchased the domain.
Separately, Bankman-Fried has continued to post about his ongoing legal case. In a recent post, he discussed the appeal of his criminal conviction and sentence. The post does not address the Uniswap.com domain or the 2021 dispute, so it does not provide additional evidence about Adams’ account.
Adams’ recent comments therefore add a new account of who he says purchased Uniswap.com and how much was paid, while the WIPO record documents the later legal process that resulted in the domain being transferred to Uniswap Labs.
