Uniswap Marks $4B Mobile Swaps, Brings L3 Projects Soon

Uniswap has reached a milestone of $4B swaps through its mobile app. Decentralized trading is still comparatively small against big exchange volumes, but has helped grow the crypto and DeFi infrastructure, while offering highly accessible swaps. 

The potential for swaps means some of the trades are borderless and permissionless. Uniswap has added an optional feature for Know Your Customer (KYC) screenings, but some pairs may be accessible without the process. The Uniswap web app also offers limit orders, to simulate centralized trading and automate decisions. 

Uniswap is also available on more than seven leading L1 blockchains in addition to Ethereum, hosting their newly minted tokens. The most active chains include Arbitrum, Avalanche, Binance Smart Chain, XDAI, Optimism, and Polygon.

The Uniswap team also claims that its high liquidity and leading position allow the DEX to offer better swaps compared to price aggregators. 

For wallet holders using the web app, Uniswap also offers easier swapping by switching between different wallets and networks. The Uniswap team is also highly active in adding new features, with 53 weekly commits to the codebase. 

Uniswap Hints at L3 Assets

Uniswap sent out a cryptic message, which may be taken as a suggestion the exchange will carry L3 assets of some form. 

Layer 3, or L3, emerged as a new moniker for restaking tokens, or other assets based on locking collaterals of ETH. There is no clear list of what makes an L3 asset, as most restaking protocols started as tokenless projects. 

However, some of those projects rewarded points or other placeholder balances. Restaking protocols are thus setting expectations of launching a new wave of tokens and a new level of decentralized complexity. 

The next months may bring the L3 trend on Ethereum to fruition. Uniswap is also facing the challenge of absorbing Bitcoin-based DeFi and tokens. 

Which Layer 3 Will Go to Uniswap?

Uniswap has not clearly stated it would list a specific Layer 3 project, or simply allow liquidity building for a series of new tokens. Making the best guess, the protocol in question may be Layer3XYZ, which is preparing to launch its native asset this summer. 

Layer3XYZ already aggregates L3 and restaking protocols, making the process easier. In L3, earning points and keeping track of all gains may be difficult, especially after the launch of multiple restaking pools and hubs. 

Layer3XYZ aims to reflect the entire L3 ecosystem in a single native token, coming up soon. 

L3 grew after the boom of EigenLayer, which became a leader in restaked ETH tokens and in issuing point-based rewards. So far, there is no clear list of the reward platforms on EigenLayer, and it is uncertain which ones would be ready to launch tokens. 

Uniswap Still Leads DEX Roster

Uniswap is still contributing to the usage of Ethereum’s blockchain, and remains among the most used DEX. The gas fees paid in a month indicate Uniswap usage. The exchange hosts both user-generated transactions, and MEV bots to optimize swaps. 

Uniswap is the leader in terms of both daily trades and total value locked. The current DeFi season is slower compared to 2021, but Uniswap still caries $5.36B in value locked. This is more than double compared to the closest competitor, PancakeSwap. 

The DEX carries around $1.32B in daily volumes for all versions and liquidity pools. Close to 50% of that activity is through the Ethereum-based Uniswap V3. Activity statistics also show Uniswap communicates with 156K unique wallets daily, even though some of those addresses are linked to trading bots. 

Uniswap has recovered more than 50% of its peak value locked. One of the reasons for the lower value is the native token, UNI. During peak times, UNI traded close to $40, but now Uniswap has to deal with a native asset at $6.90. For 2024, UNI peaked at around $15 before the April correction.

The leading DEX continues to carry major assets, including highly active meme tokens. Additionally, Uniswap almost constantly lists new tokens with no barrier to entry except for liquidity. 

Those new tokens are held by a few dozen users at best, and are often risky and volatile. Their liquidity pools are often under 10 wETH.