As the SEC cracks down on its centralized competitors, one of the biggest decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges has announced they are opening up their development process to the public for the first time.

Uniswap Labs, the team behind Uniswap’s decentralized finance (DeFi) success, unveiled their vision for its next iteration: Uniswap v4.

Uniswap Labs is taking an innovative step by soliciting community input ahead of the public launch of Uniswap v4. This approach is meant to emphasize its dedication to decentralization; one key distinction that differentiates decentralized exchanges (DEXs) like Uniswap from centralized exchanges such as Coinbase (COIN) and Binance, both currently facing legal threats from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Uniswap has long been recognized for popularizing automated market makers (AMM), an ABM is a type of blockchain-based computer program or smart contract which facilitates transactions between cryptocurrency without using intermediaries as middlemen.

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In 2021, Uniswap v3 debuted on Ethereum blockchain and since expanded across numerous other networks. As per DefiLlama statistics, Uniswap is currently the largest decentralized exchange by trading volume with over $1 trillion worth of transactions processed since launch.

Developers plan to upgrade Uniswap Labs DEX’s coin-swapping capabilities with its version 4 upgrade through “hooks” and custom liquidity pools, according to Hayden Adams, CEO of Uniswap Labs. In a blog post released Tuesday, Adams explained hooks as “plugins to tailor how pools, swaps, fees, LP positions interact.”

Adams believes this new feature could pave the way for features like on-chain limit orders and dynamic fees that might otherwise only be found on more traditional exchange platforms, but which are much harder to implement in blockchain environments as there are no intermediaries or central order books.

Adams indicated that the draft code for Uniswap v4 will bring performance enhancements and fee decreases. Since Uniswap is permissionless, anyone can create pools to facilitate buying and selling compatible crypto tokens – the new proposal suggests network gas fees would be cut by up to 99%!

Uniswap v4 will use the Business Source License 1.1 as its licensing model. This prevents competitors from copying Uniswap’s codebase for use in competing apps; many popular DEX systems already utilize modified versions of it as part of their systems.

Uniswap Labs, which secured a $165 million Series B funding round last year, recently issued their proposed Uniswap v4 plans in order to garner public feedback and collect data on public opinion polling. According to Adams, it may take several months before this new product officially launches on the public market.

Read: Crypto Exchange Uniswap Labs Raises $165M in Polychain Capital-Led Round

Adams told CoinDesk that this protocol serves as an initial implementation and vision for what its final form will look like, with plenty of room for people to give feedback, find improvements and optimizations, or begin planning how they might build upon it in future projects.

Step towards increased decentralization

Gathering community feedback is part of Uniswap’s efforts to switch its development model away from centralization, at a time when U.S. regulators are scrutinizing Uniswap’s more traditional rivals more closely.

Coinbase and Binance, two leading centralized crypto exchanges, were recently targeted in lawsuits brought by the SEC. Both platforms provide similar features to Uniswap but use traditional computer servers instead of blockchain technology for processing trades.

Read: SEC’s Binance and Coinbase Lawsuits May Have Uncertain Future for Token Listed on Exchanges: Legal Experts

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It remains uncertain whether (and in what form) similar enforcement actions could target DEXs such as Uniswap, which lack a centralized command structure and operating entity.

However, the SEC previously signaled its intent to increase oversight of DeFi. Notably, assets deemed securities by the SEC in its recent CEX lawsuits can currently be traded on Uniswap and this platform was the subject of a 2021 SEC probe according to reports in The Wall Street Journal.