Overview
Uniswap is the largest decentralized exchange by trading volume, responsible for inventing the Automated Market Maker (AMM) model that became the foundation of DeFi. Created by Hayden Adams and launched in November 2018, Uniswap v4 and the Unichain L2 represent its current evolution. UNI is a governance token that gives holders voting rights over protocol parameters, treasury funds (~$1.5 billion), and fee switches.
Who Created UNI?
Uniswap was created by Hayden Adams and launched in 2018. It is a DeFi cryptocurrency using N/A (governance token) consensus.
Key Use Cases
Uniswap provides permissionless token trading without order books, enabling any ERC-20 token to have immediate liquidity without centralized exchange listing fees or gatekeepers. It is the primary price discovery mechanism for new tokens, and its concentrated liquidity model has made it the LP of choice for institutional market makers seeking capital-efficient DeFi exposure. Uniswap processes $1–2 trillion in annual trading volume across all chains.
Key Features
- +Processes $1–2 trillion in annual trading volume — by far the most used DEX
- +Concentrated liquidity (v3) enables 4000x more capital efficiency than traditional AMMs
- +Uniswap v4 hooks enable programmable AMM logic without forking the protocol
- +Unichain L2 captures MEV and transaction fees for UNI holders via the protocol fee switch
- +Multi-chain deployment on 10+ networks — wherever EVM is, Uniswap follows
- +UNI governance controls $1.5B+ treasury — largest DeFi governance treasury
Official Resources
Official website: https://uniswap.org