Uniswap Labs
Courtesy of Uniswap
- CategoryDeFi
Since it launched in 2018, the Uniswap protocol, which pioneered the automated market-maker model to let users swap one crypto for another, has come to be the dominant name in decentralized finance. It’s the leading platform for DeFi trading, and, in a sign of its growing influence, Uniswap Labs raised $165 million in funding—the largest ever such raise in DeFi—at the trough of Crypto Winter, with contributions coming from Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, SV Angel, and Variant. The venture capitalists valued Uniswap at nearly $1.7 billion, a sign investors believe it’s built to last.
The protocol’s growth has come in part thanks to sound management on the part of Uniswap Labs CEO Hayden Adams, who has prioritized security and usability over exotic products and grow-at-all-cost gimmicks. Uniswap has nonetheless expanded its presence significantly, recently adding NFT trading and the ability for users to trade on Binance’s BNB chain.
And in March, the company unveiled its own decentralized wallet—though, in a sign that DeFi is very much a frontier industry, Uniswap faces an uphill battle in persuading Apple to add the wallet to its app store.
The protocol’s growth has come in part thanks to sound management on the part of Uniswap Labs CEO Hayden Adams, who has prioritized security and usability over exotic products and grow-at-all-cost gimmicks. Uniswap has nonetheless expanded its presence significantly, recently adding NFT trading and the ability for users to trade on Binance’s BNB chain.
And in March, the company unveiled its own decentralized wallet—though, in a sign that DeFi is very much a frontier industry, Uniswap faces an uphill battle in persuading Apple to add the wallet to its app store.