Key Takeaways:
- UNI's market cap has increased by over $700 million in 24 hours.
- Uniswap has hinted plans to launch a NFTs project.
- Total value of assets locked on Uniswap has declined significantly.
LAGOS (CoinChapter.com) — Uniswap’s UNI price surged nearly 15% in the last 24 hours after the protocol secured $165 million in a Series B funding round, led by Polychain Capital.
In detail, the decentralized exchange’s ERC-20 token broke its bearish trading pattern to reclaim the $6 benchmark. Data from Tradingview indicated that UNI price at the time of publication sits at $6.31 rising almost 5% in the last 30 days.
The price rise also boost Uniswap’s supply as the token market cap increased by over $700 million in 24 hours. At press time UNI had a 24-hour trading volume of $183 million with a circulating supply of 750 million UNI coins and a total supply of 1 billion.
Notably, the massive price rise is a result of Uniswap’s recent investment which appears to be the largest ever recorded in the decentralized finance sector. Investors who participated in the seed round in addition to Polychain include Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, Variant and SV Angel.
Hayden Adams, Uniswap founder and CEO in a statement expressed his delight with the outcome of the funding round. He posited that the investment will enable the protocol to further the decentralized nature of the blockchain industry. He added that decentralization may also hold the key to reducing the number of hacks witnessed in the DeFi space.
“For us, the industry has started to prove itself and we’re seeing the value of it, especially in this bear market when a lot of centralized infrastructures failed, and a lot of decentralized entities prevailed.”
Adams said.
Uniswap To Expand Into NFTs, Web3
Additionally, Adams noted that the funding will enable Uniswap to expand and roll out more features in the blockchain space. He explained that the protocol will focus on building services that will make Web3 more accessible to non-technical people.
Moreover, the company also disclosed plans to launch nonfungible tokens (NFTs) projects shortly. Adams noted that plans to build an NFT aggregator that will unlock new interactions between tokens and NFTs are underway. He said:
“The world of NFTs and tokens and DeFi are viewed as two separate ecosystems…it’s like saying the world of chat boards and photos are different.”
Additionally, in discussing the virtues of decentralization, Adams described Vitalik Buterin as his greatest influence. He praised how Buterin nurtured the protocol but then stepped back to allow others to take a leading role an example Adams says he’s tried to emulate.
It is also worth noting that the company is contending with ongoing Securities and Exchange Commission investigations. However, a spokesperson said that “the company is committed to complying with the law and regulations governing our industry.”
Total Value Locked On UNI Plummets
Despite Uniswap’s recent boost, the total value of assets locked on the protocol has declined significantly. Data from DeFi analytic firm, DefiLlama indicates that Uniswap TVL currently holds around $4.9 billion in assets.
Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, Optimism, and, Celo currently account for $4.6 billion, $92.5 million, $84.5 million, $53.1 million, and $1 million respectively. Notably, Uniswap TVL has declined significantly due to the ongoing bear market. In May, the DEX had nearly $7 billion in TVL, while currently, it has less than $5 billion.
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