Uniswap is one of the most well-known and popular DeFi applications on Ethereum. It's an unstoppable decentralized exchange.
Uniswap gives Ethereum users the ability to swap ETH and Ethereum-based ERC-20 tokens like SNT with any other Ethereum-based token provided. Uniswap is an alternative to relying on a centralized exchange to create and monitor trading pairs.
For centralized exchanges in 2020, if we want to trade SNT for Ethereum, Status (the organization) would need to convince the company running the exchange that the pair should be provided. The exchange will buy up a big pool of the token at a discount, usually from the founding teams, and also often charge listing fees.
Projects are often expected to pay exchanges for listing a token with various trading pairs, and it's common for the project to engage in an array of promotional campaigns to give away free tokens in order to generate demand for trading, since centralized exchanges profit from the quantity and volume of trades on their platforms.
"But hey," you say, "isn't cryptocurrency supposed to be decentralized and based on true supply and demand?"
You're very smart. We think things in general should be decentralized, especially power and supply v. demand relationships, which is why a protocol like Uniswap is such a cool idea.
Uniswap is able to offer swaps by allowing anyone who has some pair of tokens to offer them up for trading in a liquidity pool. That means that if I have 1 ETH and the equivalent amount of SNT, I can put my ETH and SNT up in a liquidity pool with others who have created the same pool. Then other traders use the pool to trade. As the liquidity pools fill up, Uniswap provides a broad variety of trading pairs that anyone with an Ethereum wallet can use.
Uniswap is a protocol, not a service. It's an important difference because Uniswap is designed to run without the founder or even the website. It's a smart contract that runs on Ethereum and is open for anyone to use and integrate on their own. It's a pretty phenomenal example of decentralized finance.
There is no membership, login, or password for Uniswap. It's based on your Ethereum wallet. If you're using the Status App to access Uniswap, then you'll connect to Uniswap and trade the tokens in your wallet with the tokens you'd like. There are many other Ethereum wallets that allow the same functionality as well.
At Status we're excited about featuring Uniswap because of our mission for decentralized mobile, social, and financial activity. One of the very first killer crypto applications was trading crypto. Trading is the self-sovereign ability to determine your own assets, and swap them when and where you like. With Uniswap on the mobile Status App, it's your choice when and where to make those financial decisions, and make them with decentralized protocols.
Try Uniswap today on the Status App. Install and check out the Status App, and also join in the dap.ps chat channel #dap-ps. Take a look at the incredible variety of tokens listed, and do some research to find out what swap are right for you.
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*Disclaimer - This article was written for your entertainment, and the content is for informational purposes only. You should not construe any such information or other material as investment, financial, or other advice. Using decentralized financial tools does not come without risks and using Status is simply a portal to these tools - Status does not mitigate associated risks of said products.