Uniswap is a decentralised cryptocurrency exchange (also known as a decentralised exchange) that facilitates automated transactions between cryptocurrency tokens on the Ethereum blockchain through the use of smart contracts. As of October 2020, Uniswap is estimated to be the largest decentralised exchange and the fourth largest cryptocurrency exchanger overall by daily trading volume. As of March 2021, Uniswap was generating fees of approximately US $2-3 million daily for liquidity providers that facilitate liquid markets for cryptocurrencies to be exchanged. Uniswap was created on 2 November 2018 by Hayden Adams, a former Siemens mechanical engineer. Uniswap received investments from venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm Venture Capital Union Square Ventures LLC and ParaFi. Union Square Ventures LLC and ParaFi. Uniswap's average daily trading volume was USD 220 million in October 2020. Traders and investors have used Uniswap because of its use in decentralised finance (DeFi). In April 2020, Uniswap's website was temporarily taken down quantify after hackers unsuccessfully attempted to use a re-logging trick on the exchange. Capital named it alongside Maker, Compound, Ankr, Aave and Chainlink as some of DeFi's "coins to watch" in 2021 Uniswap is a decentralised finance protocol used to exchange cryptocurrencies and tokens; it is provided on blockchain networks that are decentralised and run open-source software, unlike any centralised intermediary. This contrasts with cryptocurrency exchanges that are run by centralised companies such as Coinbase, Binance and OKEx. Owners of a native cryptocurrency and a governance token called UNI vote on changes to the protocol, and then a team of developers implement them. UNI coins were initially distributed to early users of the protocol. Each Ethereum address that had interacted with Uniswap before 1 September 2020 received the ability to claim 400 UNI tokens (worth approximately $1,400 at that time). The market capitalisation of the UNI token is over $500 million as of October 2020.