Uniswap Labs reveals the acquisition of NFT marketplace aggregator Genie in its push to start supporting NFT trading in the days to come.
Uniswap Labs, the company behind the Ethereum-based decentralized exchange Uniswap, announced Tuesday that it had acquired NFT marketplace aggregator Genie. The acquisition is the company’s first step towards its plans of supporting NFT trading “soon.”
“We’re trying to bring everything we brought to the ERC-20 space to the NFT space,” Uniswap founder and CEO Hayden Adams said Tuesday in a Bankless interview discussing the announcement.
In a blog posted on Uniswap’s website, it said that the acquisition of Genie is in pursuit of the company’s “mission to unlock universal ownership and exchange.”
What it Could Mean for Users
Those familiar with NFTs know these unique blockchain tokens can be purchased from marketplaces like OpenSea, Coinbase NFT, or LooksRare. However, some of these marketplaces do not offer users the ability to buy multiple items in one transaction. Moreover, these do not provide aggregation tools that users can use to see NFT listings on rival marketplaces. What sets Genie apart from these platforms is it offers both.
“We see NFTs as another form of value in the growing digital economy, and it’s a no-brainer for us to integrate them,” Uniswap Labs wrote on Twitter.
Uniswap’s Genie acquisition comes barely two months after OpenSea divulged that it was purchasing the NFT aggregator Gem. Like Genie, Gem lets users buy multiple NFTs in one transaction. Like Uniswap, OpenSea is also toying with integrating NFT aggregation features into its platform.
Uniswap is keeping mum about the terms of the deal. They also did not disclose what would happen to the Genie team.
“NFTs will be integrated into our products, starting with the Uniswap web app, where soon you’ll be able to buy and sell NFTs across all major marketplaces. We’ll also integrate NFTs into our developer APIs and widgets, making Uniswap a comprehensive platform for users and builders in web3,” a blog post said, referring to application programming interfaces. Uniswap also said it would be adding a new tab, specifically for NFTs, to its primary site before the year ends.
Not an NFT Novice
Uniswap is making it clear that this is not their first foray into the NFT space. Those who have been part of the NFT community for some time will remember that they launched Unisocks in Spring 2019. It was the first instance of NFT liquidity pools, and NFTs backed by real-world assets.
At the time of writing, Unisocks’ current floor price on OpenSea is Ξ 10, or about $10,780. Its total volume traded is Ξ 288, or roughly $310,500.
Uniswap’s blog post announced that they plan to share an undisclosed amount of USDC stablecoin to “historical Genie users” via airdrop. In their Twitter announcement, they clarified that anyone who made a swap, used the Genie platform at least once, or holds a Genie Genesis NFT by April 15 is eligible to receive USDC.
No further details were given regarding the airdrop, but according to Uniswap, it will launch in August with a 12-month claiming validity. They also said, “Genie users will continue to have uninterrupted service to the Genie website until the new Uniswap NFT experience is available.”
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