Uniswap Price Gains 15% as BlackRock BUIDL Rollout Attracts Fresh Whales

Key Insights:

• Uniswap price surged 15% to $4 as BlackRock’s $2.2B BUIDL fund went live on UniswapX.
• Whales started accumulating on Feb. 26, adding 1.61M UNI after selling from Feb. 9 through Feb. 11.
• Cup and handle pattern targets $6.20 with 40% upside if $3.25 support holds during pullback.

Uniswap price jumped 15% in the past 24 hours. The token is trading around $4.00 while the trading volume spiked to $566 million. That’s significantly higher than normal. The rally follows BlackRock’s tokenized Treasury fund going live on UniswapX in mid-February.

But something interesting happened with whale wallets. They only started buying today, on Feb. 26. For weeks before, they were selling. Now they’re accumulating again. The timing raises questions about whether they’re late or early.

BlackRock BUIDL and Fee Burns Boost Uniswap Tokenomics

BlackRock’s BUIDL fund went live on UniswapX in mid-February 2026. BUIDL is a tokenized U.S. Treasury fund valued at $2.2 billion. It allows whitelisted investors to trade tokenized real-world assets 24/7 with stablecoins.

This marks the first major bridge between traditional finance and decentralized finance using Uniswap infrastructure.

BlackRock reportedly bought UNI tokens as part of this integration. That adds institutional credibility. When the world’s largest asset manager with trillions under management enters a protocol, it validates the technology. Other institutions pay attention.

At the same time, governance proposals activated fee burns in February. The fee switch and UNIfication proposals expand fee collection beyond the Ethereum mainnet. Eight additional networks now route fees back to Ethereum. Those fees automatically buy and burn Uniswap tokens.

The projected burn rate is approximately 4 million UNI annually. That transforms UNI from a pure governance token to a revenue-linked asset. Scarcity dynamics tie directly to protocol usage. Higher trading volume means more fees. More fees mean more burns. Fewer tokens in circulation potentially support higher prices.

Whales Turn Buyers After Weeks of Selling

Whale wallet activity tells an interesting story. Large holders began selling on Feb. 9 and continued through Feb. 11. Holdings dropped steadily. On Feb. 26, that reversed. Whales began accumulating again.

The numbers show the shift. Before Feb. 26, whales held 638.47 million UNI. By the end of the day, holdings increased to 640.08 million Uniswap tokens. That’s an addition of 1.61 million tokens. Not massive. But the direction matters more than the size.

Why did whales wait? Here is why: The cup-and-handle pattern had been forming for weeks. Regular bullish divergence appeared between Jan. 31 and Feb. 24. Price made a lower low. RSI made a higher low during the same period. That typically signals a reversal is coming. Technical traders watch for these setups.

Whales possibly waited for confirmation. The handle consolidation needed to hold support. Once Uniswap price stabilized above key levels, they entered. Or they simply reacted to the BlackRock news and fee burn activation, finally registering as bullish catalysts worth acting on.

Bullish Divergence Supports $6.20 Uniswap Price Target

The chart structure shows a potential cup pattern possibly complete. The left side declined earlier this year. The right side is the recent recovery to $4.00. Now comes the handle phase. This is where consolidation happens before the next move.

Critical support sits at $3.25. Uniswap price needs to hold above this during any pullback. A break below weakens the entire pattern. The real danger is $2.80. Losing that support invalidates the bullish setup completely. Also, a hidden bearish (pullback-centric) divergence is now appearing post the rally.

But if support holds and price breaks above $4.14 to $4.29, targets open up. The first stop is $4.69. Then $5.58. The measured move from the cup projects to $6.20. That represents roughly 40% additional upside from current levels. The bullish divergence from Jan. 31 to Feb. 24 supports this view.

Year-over-year, the Uniswap price is still down 50%. The broader trend remains negative. But reversals start inside downtrends. Whales entering today possibly see the technical setup meeting the fundamental catalysts.