The company behind the ETH-based decentralized exchange Uniswap, Uniswap Labs, has acquired NFTs marketplace aggregator Genie.
The company announced the purchase on the 21st of June, revealing that it is expanding its products to include ERC-20s and NFTs. Until the new Uniswap NFT experience is available, Genie users will continue to access the Genie website uninterrupted.
Uniswap Labs Expands to Include ERC-20s and NFTs
According to the announcement, Uniswap Labs will adopt NFTs into its offerings. For starters, the company will integrate the Uniswap web app, a platform that will allow users to buy and sell NFTs on all major marketplaces. The company will gradually incorporate NFTs into its developer APIs and widgets. This integration will make Uniswap an extensive platform for both users and builders in web3.
Uniswap Labs mentioned that the company made its initial debut into the NFTs space in 2019 launching Unisocks. The company believes NFTs is an additional value to the burgeoning digital economy and not a separate entity from ERC20s. Uniswap Labs will share web3 ethos values with Genie users via a USDC airdrop. The company promised that the airdrop would be claimable for up to 1 year, starting from August when it launches. Users who used the platform at least once or had a Genie Genesis NFT as of the 15th of April will receive USDC.
“As the world’s largest decentralized exchange protocol, Uniswap is a simple and safe place to access the benefits of digital ownership, offering deeper liquidity than leading centralized exchanges. We’re excited to bring what we’ve learned building DeFi products to NFTs, giving even more people access to digital ownership and value.”
Uniswap Labs announced its acquisition of Genie months after OpenSea said it bought NFT aggregator Gem. Like Genie, Gem also allows users to buy multiple NFTs in a single transaction. At the time of the Gem purchase, OpenSea revealed that it would integrate NFT aggregation features.
Uniswap Labs’ Continuous Expansion
Uniswap is evidently expanding and making impactful changes to its structure Coinspeaker reported last week that the company onboarded Stacey Cunningham, the former president of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Cunningham, who formerly served NYSE for almost four years, joined Uniswap Labs as an adviser. According to Uniswap Labs, Cunningham joined the team because she believes in its potential.
Prior to hiring Cunningham, Uniswap Labs employed its first Chief Operating Officer (COO), Mary-Catherine Laden. Also, it onboarded Barack Obama’s former spokesperson Hari Sevugan as its Communication Chief. Like Uniswap, other crypto companies like Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) have welcomed top names from the traditional finance industry. Coinbase added Roger Bartlett to head its global financial operation. Bartlett was a former partner at Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS).
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