Uniswap is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange that uses a set of smart contracts to create liquidity pools for the execution of trades.

It is an open source project and falls into the category of a DeFi product (Decentralized finance) because it uses smart contracts to facilitate trades instead of a centralized exchange.

[4] Adams launched Uniswap in November 2018, after working as a mechanical engineer[5] and being inspired by a blog post written by Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum.

His innovative work on Uniswap has played a key role in the growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) by introducing the Automated Market Maker (AMM) model, which allows users to trade cryptocurrencies directly from their wallets.

[12] Uniswap is a decentralized finance protocol that is used to exchange cryptocurrencies and tokens; it is provided on blockchain networks that run open-source software.

Changes to the protocol are voted on by the owners of a native cryptocurrency and governance token called UNI, and then implemented by a team of developers.

Introduced in September 2020, UNI was distributed through an airdrop to early users of the platform and allocated to various stakeholders, including the development team, investors, and a community treasury.