SBF Once Spent Seven Figures on Uniswap.com, Then Redirected It to a Fork

Hayden Adams, the creator of Uniswap, recently shared a story from the early days of the protocol. He recalled that Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) once paid a seven-figure sum for the Uniswap.com domain and later pointed it toward a fork.

Adams posted the account on X in response to a discussion about a16z.vc. That address had been parked with an open invitation to sell it to Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital firm known as a16z.

How SBF Ended Up Owning the Uniswap.com Domain

The original owners demanded a seven-figure price, at least $1 million. Uniswap decided not to meet that asking price. Bankman-Fried went ahead and paid that amount anyway, according to Adams.

He then directed the domain toward a fork—a clone exchange built on Uniswap's open-source code. Adams did not identify the specific fork. He also refrained from claiming he knew the reason, adding that he could only speculate.

The timeline also remains unclear. In September 2020, Bankman-Fried took control of SushiSwap, the most prominent Uniswap fork, after its anonymous founder handed over the project. Adams did not indicate whether the domain episode falls into that period.

But the situation carried real consequences, not just pride. Uniswap's app operates on a .org domain, so some users type the .com address first. Whoever holds that .com address decides where those visitors end up.

Still, the redirect gave Uniswap an opportunity. Adams explained that his legal team called it malicious use of the domain, and that argument alone let them reclaim the address at no cost. Uniswap.com now points to the protocol's official website.

Adams did not say whether Bankman-Fried received any compensation. He also did not detail how the legal team proceeded.

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

Where the Buyer Stands Now

Bankman-Fried now faces much bigger challenges. A jury convicted the FTX founder of fraud in November 2023, and a judge handed down a 25-year prison sentence along with an $11 billion forfeiture order. A petition to the Supreme Court remains his only remaining option.

Uniswap, meanwhile, has continued to develop. In December, its governance approved protocol fees and began burning UNI, the protocol's governance token. By February, more than 100 million UNI had been sent to the burn address.

UNI trades near $8.78, roughly twice its price from a month ago. Most of that increase came in a single sharp move after mid-September. Whale wallets had already been buying at the fastest rate in five years during August, and Bitwise separately filed for a spot Uniswap ETF.

The domain story therefore feels like a small detail in hindsight. Still, it reveals what the fork competition looked like off the price charts. Money bought the address, and lawyers retrieved it.