Coinbase Pro lists Uniswap token hours after $1,500 airdrop

US crypto exchange Coinbase said it would soon list UNI, the native token of decentralized exchange Uniswap, on its professional trading platform Coinbase Pro, per an announcement earlier today. The famed “Coinbase pump” followed shortly after, causing UNI to surge by 22% to $4 at press time.

Only inbound transfers are currently accepted on Coinbase Pro. Trading is expected to begin later in the day after sufficient “liquidity conditions” are met—to prevent a one-sided market or large UNI holders from manipulating the market.

But the listing didn’t happen out of nowhere. Coinbase is an investor in Universal Navigation Inc, the parent company and developer of Uniswap, and holds UNI tokens. The exchange said, “Coinbase intends to maintain its investment in UNI for the foreseeable future and maintains internal policies that address the timing of permissible disposition of its digital assets, including UNI tokens.”

Trading Volume on Ethereum-based DEX Uniswap Beats Coinbase Pro

Uniswap’s daily trading volume today hit new highs—surpassing Coinbase Pro’s daily volume for the first time.  The Ethereum-based decentralized exchange and liquidity provider’s trading volume stood at over $441 million at the time of writing, according to its online stats. That’s a 70% increase in the past 24 hours.  Meanwhile, the 24-hour trading volume of Coinbase Pro—Coinbase’s full-service crypto exchange—stood at just over $373 million, according to CoinMarketCap data.  Both Uniswap and C...

The move came hours after Uniswap airdropped its tokens to everyone who used its platform prior to September 1. This included liquidity providers, casual traders, and even those who tried transacting on the network but failed to do so because of high gas fees. A minimum of 400 UNI was airdropped regardless.

DeFi Protocol Uniswap Introduces UNI Governance Token

Uniswap, an exchange for swapping Ethereum-based tokens, announced today that it has created its own token, UNI. The introduction of the UNI will allow it to promote the platform's growth using a decentralized mechanism. Just as importantly, it lets Uniswap reward users with a token asset at a time when such rewards are becoming standard in DeFi. Uniswap: Beginner's Guide To the Leading DEX (2021) At their core, governance tokens are like a loyalty program mixed with company shares: Users get cr...

As per data on crypto price tracker CoinGecko, the 400 UNI airdrop was currently worth over $1,500 at press time, a few hundred dollars more than what US citizens received as part of their stimulus package earlier this year.

Coinbase has listed several DeFi tokens in recent weeks, such as yearn.finance, Loopring, and others, to provide users with a wider range of cryptocurrencies. It looks like that trend will continue.

Update: This article has been corrected to specify that the listing is on Coinbase Pro, not Coinbase itself.