“People often worry about entrenched powers seeing crypto as a threat. Not enough people worry about them seeing it as an opportunity.”
Hayden Adams is the founder and CEO of Uniswap, an Ethereum-based decentralized exchange that significantly rose in popularity in 2020. Adams holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Stony Brook University, New York. Adams studied at Stony Brook from 2012 to 2016 and simultaneously worked as a researcher for Columbia University Medical Center. From 2016 to 2017, Adams spent time as an engineer for automation company Siemens before going on to found Uniswap in 2018.
After Siemens laid him off in 2017, Adams was nudged down the crypto rabbit hole by Karl Floersch, one of his friends who had experience working with the Ethereum Foundation. Speaking positively of Ethereum and noting that it was still in its early days, Floersch encouraged the saddened Adams to dive in even though he lacked programming savvy. This initial dive into crypto ultimately led to Adams creating Uniswap.
The exchange launched its own asset, UNI, in the latter half of 2020. By early 2021, the governance treasury for Uniswap had grown to a value of $500 million. Adams queried his Twitter audience on how the community would like to see the funds dispersed.
Early in 2022, Adams noted that his bank accounts with JPMorgan Chase had been terminated, absent any warning. He was also left without a reason for the bank’s move, although he suspected the action had something to do with his participation in the cryptocurrency sector.
In April, Uniswap launched Uniswap Labs Ventures, a new Web3-focused venture capital fund aiming to put money into industry entities and engage in related governance systems. Adams proclaimed enthusiasm around the development, particularly the governance participation component.
August saw the launch of the Uniswap Foundation after UNI holders largely voted in favor of the decision. In October, 13.2 million UNI was delegated by Binance, putting the exchange in a top voting position within the Uniswap decentralized automated organization. Adams questioned the move as an odd one due to the fact Binance customers technically owned the UNI. Upon Adams’ request for an explanation on Twitter, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao chimed in, saying the action was not intended as a delegation play but rather as moving assets between the exchange’s own wallets.
A number of different components exist under the broad umbrella name Uniswap, such as Uniswap Labs, the company technically responsible for the Uniswap protocol’s creation. Adams will likely continue captaining Uniswap Labs as its CEO through 2023, leading the project and weighing in on important related headlines and developments, just as he did when the Binance–UNI delegation mixup occurred.
By October 2022, Uniswap had seen trading volume numbers of $1.2 trillion since its inception, according to a blog post by Adams. He detailed Uniswap Labs’ Series B funding round that landed the entity $165 million, noting Uniswap’s future plans for growth, including a web app and nonfungible token development. These areas may logically be points of focus in 2023. Uniswap launched NFT compatibility in November 2022, and 2023 could see continued development in the niche segment as the year progresses.
