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- Uniswap is a decentralised exchange that lets users trade cryptocurrency directly with each other.
- Polychain Capital led the $165 million funding round, which was announced today.
- In July, a cybercriminal stole $8 million that was stolen from Uniswap users through a phishing scam.
Uniswap: Retail investors may have been scared off by the crypto bear market, but venture capitalists who want to fund DeFi projects haven’t been scared away. Polychain Capital led Uniswap latest $165 million funding round, which was announced today.
Along with Polychain Capital, a16z crypto, Paradigm, SV Angel, and Variant are all part of the Series B funding round.
In a post about the raise, Uniswap founder Hayden Adams said, “I’m so excited to tell you that we’ve raised $165 million in Series B funding.”
Last month, TechCrunch said that the round that was going on at the time could be worth between $100 million and $200 million, and that a Singaporean sovereign investment fund and Polychain were involved in the deal. After the most recent round, Uniswap is worth $1.6 billion.
“When I built the Uniswap Protocol in 2018, it was an experiment to see if I could create something that fully embodied the values of Ethereum: transparent, secure, and accessible,” Adams said.
A decentralised exchange, or DEX, is an app that lets users trade cryptocurrency directly with each other without going through a middleman. DEX built on Ethereum that lets people trade ERC-20 tokens.
The fact that these exchanges are peer-to-peer has made them popular among traders who want a more private way to trade, but cybercriminals have also become interested in DEXes.
In July, a cybercriminal got away with $8 million that was stolen from Uniswap users through a phishing scam. On October 1, thieves took $23 million from Transit Swap, a rival decentralised exchange.
Adams used the creation of the Uniswap Foundation as an example of how the community continues to support Uniswap. He said it was a great example of what a decentralised community can do that a single company can’t.
“The governance community recently voted to create the Uniswap Foundation, which will contribute to the Protocol’s decentralised development and give at least $60 million in grants to community projects over the next few years,” Adams said.
Adams said that since it started, Uniswap has grown and changed, and it has helped $1.2 trillion worth of trades happen.
“I’m so grateful for the support of our incredible community, users, investors, and team,“ Adams said, “and I can’t wait to share more in the months ahead!”
