Is it finally time to buy this crypto unicorn?

uniswap (quotation UNI) is one of the best known pioneers of decentralized finance (DeFi) and has always had a passionate following in the cryptocurrency space. It is currently the number 18 cryptocurrency in the world by market capitalization, but Uniswap's main appeal has always been for cryptocurrency enthusiasts, not traditional investors. In fact, if you're not a fan of DeFi, you may never have heard of Uniswap.

That's why Robinhood Markets' recent announcement to add Uniswap to its popular app's cryptocurrency trading menu is so exciting. There are only 13 cryptocurrencies on the menu today, so the move could help Uniswap find more mainstream acceptance, especially among young millennials. Anyone who opens the Robinhood app on their phone can now find Uniswap right next to fan favorites like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Uniswap has already started its rally.

Check out the DeFi unicorn

Since its launch in November 2018, Uniswap has been a leader in the DeFi space. With the backing of several high-profile venture capital firms (including Union Square Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz), Uniswap popularized the decentralized exchange (DEX) concept. This focus makes it very different from Coinbase, which is a centralized exchange (CEX). Uniswap was also the pioneer of the automated market maker (AMM) concept, which describes how liquidity is provided to the market. These terms may seem obscure or arcane if you've never worked on Wall Street, but in reality they are the fundamental foundations of decentralized finance.

Of course, there are plenty of other decentralized exchanges out there, all with fun names like SushiSwap or PancakeSwap. However, Uniswap is generally recognized as the biggest and best because it specializes in crypto tokens that trade on the Ethereum blockchain. Furthermore, Uniswap just passed a major milestone (more than $ 1.000 trillion traded in its lifetime) in May. Controversial new research from Kaiko suggests that daily trading volume on Uniswap may soon be close to that of Coinbase. 

In the summer of 2020 (also known to cryptocurrency enthusiasts as the "DeFi summer"), Uniswap was so loved that even the most influential mainstream publications, such as Bloomberg, loved it. Uniswap's market cap now exceeds $ 5 billion (five times the figure of a traditional Silicon Valley unicorn) and Uniswap's logo is a pink and white unicorn. So, by investing in Uniswap, you are investing in a real DeFi unicorn. 

Uniswap and NFTs

Another catalyst for Uniswap this summer could be its strategic transition into the non-fungible token market (NFT). In June, Uniswap announced it had acquired Genie, a new type of NFT market. Unlike a traditional NFT market like OpenSea, Genie is an aggregator market. This means that it collects NFT listings from various other marketplaces to provide users with a more complete set of listings. (Likewise, a news aggregator collects content from different news sources into a single main dashboard).

What makes this strategic move so interesting is that Uniswap could apply the same market-making technology used for crypto token trading to NFT trading. The way in which NFTs are traded today is not entirely efficient, because it is sometimes difficult to get a buyer and a seller to agree and then agree on the final sale price of an NFT. Using its proprietary technology, Uniswap could theoretically make this process much more efficient and provide greater overall liquidity to the NFT market.

A second opportunity to buy Uniswap

By investing in Uniswap now, you potentially have access to a cryptocurrency with a strong following and huge growth potential based on its position in the world of DeFi. Most importantly, Uniswap is trading under $ 10 right now. At its all-time high, Uniswap traded at just under $ 45, so there is certainly some upside. You may not have been able to buy Uniswap in 2020, but now you have a second chance, and at a bargain price.