Uniswap Labs announced on June 21 that it had acquired the NFT marketplace aggregator Genie, and plans to integrate NFTs into its products starting with the Uniswap web app:
The integration of NFTs into the popular decentralised exchange means users will soon be able to buy and sell the assets across most major marketplaces using Uniswap.
Uniswap Labs also plans to incorporate NFTs into its other products, including its developer APIs and widgets, which it says will make Uniswap “a comprehensive platform for users and builders in Web3”.
Airdrop for Genie Users
As part of its acquisition of Genie, Uniswap Labs will be launching an airdrop of USD Coin (USDC) to historical Genie users. In a tweet, the company said the airdrop would be open to any Genie users who had used the platform more than once before the snapshot was taken on April 15, along with any user who holds a GENIE:GEM NFT.
4/ One more thing…
— Uniswap Labs 🦄 (@Uniswap) June 21, 2022
To welcome the Genie community to the Uniswap universe, we’ll be airdropping USDC later this summer to anyone who used Genie more than once before April 15 or holds a GENIE:GEM NFT 🧞‍♂️🦄
The airdrop is planned to launch in August and will be claimable by eligible users for 12 months.
Not Uniswap’s First Foray into NFTs
This is not the first time Uniswap Labs has dabbled in NFTs. In 2019, the company launched Unisocks, a platform where users could purchase a $SOCKS token that could then be redeemed for one real pair of limited edition socks. Uniswap Labs also helped to pioneer on-chain generative SVG images with the development of its Uniswap V3 NFT positions technology.
In its statement about the Genie acquisition, Uniswap Labs expressed its belief that NFTs are simply another way of generating value in the Web3 economy and are not separate from the ERC-20 tokens Uniswap has previously focused on:
We see NFTs as another format for value in the growing digital economy – not a separate ecosystem from ERC20s – and they’re already an important gateway to Web3.
Uniswap blog
Highs and Lows
Launching in late 2018, Uniswap was one of the first – and is currently one of the largest – decentralised exchanges on the Ethereum blockchain. In February 2021, the volume of Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) trading on the platform hit an all-time high following Tesla’s purchase of large amounts of Bitcoin.
More recently, in April this year a class-action lawsuit was launched against Uniswap alleging the decentralised exchange had been involved in the sale of unauthorised securities.