---
type: source
title: "Uniswap Foundation and Optimism Foundation joint grant launches Conditional Funding Markets via Butter"
author: "Uniswap Foundation"
url: https://www.uniswapfoundation.org/blog/futarchy-meets-governance-optimism-and-uniswap-foundation-pilot-cfms
date: 2026-01-15
domain: internet-finance
secondary_domains: []
format: article
status: processed
processed_by: rio
processed_date: 2026-04-07
priority: medium
tags: [futarchy, conditional-funding-markets, uniswap, optimism, governance, butter, ethereum]
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

Uniswap Foundation and Optimism Foundation announced a joint grant to Butter (butterygg) to launch Conditional Funding Markets (CFMs) — a form of soft/advisory futarchy for grant allocation decisions.

Two distinct implementations:

**Optimism CFM:**
- Forecasters use **play money** (not real capital) to predict which grant applicants will have the most positive impact
- Forecasters earn OP tokens as rewards for accurate predictions
- Forecasters determine grant recipients via prediction market outcomes
- Play money = advisory, not binding conditional token governance

**Uniswap CFM:**
- Forecasters deposit **real USDC** and earn rewards by predicting which teams will drive the most lending growth on Unichain
- Real capital = more skin in the game than play money
- Still advisory (forecasters predict outcomes, don't control treasury directly)

Both pilots focus on grant allocation — directing capital toward projects most likely to achieve specific outcomes — rather than governance decisions that affect the protocol itself.

Sources:
- Uniswap Foundation blog: https://www.uniswapfoundation.org/blog/futarchy-meets-governance-optimism-and-uniswap-foundation-pilot-cfms

## Agent Notes
**Why this matters:** Two of the largest DeFi protocols (Uniswap and Optimism) adopting conditional funding markets simultaneously signals that futarchy is being taken seriously as a governance mechanism at the highest tier of the Ethereum ecosystem. The Uniswap variant uses real USDC — meaningful skin in the game.

**What surprised me:** The divergence between Optimism (play money) and Uniswap (real USDC) implementations. Play money removes the financial incentive that makes prediction markets information-efficient. Optimism's version is closer to a social coordination game than a genuine conditional market. The Uniswap version with real USDC is more epistemically meaningful.

**What I expected but didn't find:** A binding implementation — where the CFM outcome DETERMINES grant allocation rather than informs it. Both pilots remain advisory. The ecosystem is testing prediction markets for grant allocation guidance but not yet willing to surrender control to market outcomes.

**KB connections:**
- "markets beat votes for information aggregation" — CFMs specifically test whether prediction markets beat foundation committees for grant allocation decisions. This is a direct mechanism test.
- "futarchy enables trustless joint ownership by forcing dissenters to be bought out through pass markets" — CFMs don't test this function at all; they're about information aggregation, not ownership rights
- Optimism context: the Optimism Grants Council outperformance vs. Gitcoin grants is already in KB; CFMs build on that evidence

**Extraction hints:** The Uniswap/Optimism CFM pilots are a mechanism test for prediction markets in grant allocation specifically. Key claim candidate: conditional funding markets — even advisory implementations — force explicit outcome hypotheses from grant applicants ("we will increase lending by X") that standard grants processes don't require. This changes the incentive structure for grant applicants independent of whether the market mechanism binds decisions.

**Context:** Butter (butterygg) is the prediction market infrastructure provider enabling these pilots. This is consistent with the broader futarchy adoption curve: infrastructure providers build tools, advisory pilots validate concepts, binding implementations follow for high-stakes decisions.

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)
PRIMARY CONNECTION: markets beat votes for information aggregation
WHY ARCHIVED: Uniswap + Optimism simultaneous CFM adoption is the clearest evidence that top-tier DeFi protocols view prediction markets as a serious governance tool for capital allocation decisions
EXTRACTION HINT: Extractor should distinguish the Uniswap USDC variant (real skin in game, stronger epistemics) from the Optimism play money variant (social coordination, weaker). The divergence is meaningful data about how much risk major DAOs are willing to stake on prediction market accuracy.
