Weekly Analyst Thoughts

Uniswap Token’s “Crypto Stimulus Check”

Last week became a momentous week in Defi when Uniswap decided to drop 400 UNI tokens to anyone who ever used their exchange. The drop included anyone who even tried to use their DEX, even if their transaction failed. Most people in crypto are dubbing this airdrop the “crypto stimulus check,” worth roughly $1,200 when it was first airdropped, ballooning to $3,200 one day later, then finally finding price resistance around $2,000 soon after. The efficiency of this airdrop, in how it was immediately distributed to over 140,000 addresses, versus the many weeks of delays on the US government stimulus checks, is quite striking. Furthermore, Uniswap has enticed liquidity providers to contribute even more liquidity to their platform by offering four yield farming pools, pictured below.

Although the “crypto stimulus check” was an amazing development for all Defi users, the one thing it exposed is the lack of scalability on the Ethereum network, as some paid fees in excess of $60+ to turn their 400 UNI into ETH.

In summary, the “crypto stimulus check” was a pleasant surprise for Defi users, but if Uniswap wants to continue to grow into a powerhouse decentralized exchange, it must seek scalability solutions for its platform with Ethereum 2.0, considering the high Ethereum gas fees deter users from transacting on Uniswap.

By Jacob Stelter