Uniswap everywhere

Uniswap Labs, a maker of crypto infrastructure apps, has released a tool to help web3 platforms simplify the buying experience for their users, Axios’ Pete Gannon writes.

Why it matters: One of the reasons so many people remain on the sidelines in crypto is the complication. New tools to help reduce friction in the user experience will simplify the process, making it more like the web2 experience people are familiar with.

• What’s happening:Uniswap Labs rolled out a new widget to execute digital token trades that web3-based platforms can easily embed on their websites.
• Much like what Stripe does for online businesses in simplifying the customer buying experience in traditional currencies, Uniswap’s widget does for web3 — but also while handling the unique issue of switching tokens.

Context: Different web3 platforms require users to transact with different tokens. Users typically have to navigate to an exchange to trade tokens from their wallet into those they need to transact on the original platform.

• On a site like OpenSea, NFT collectors would first have to trade tokens they hold for wrapped ether (WETH) before coming back to the site to purchase NFTs.
• Someone approved to join the Friends with Benefits community would have to trade into FWB tokens before coming back to the site to join.

The Uniswap protocol on Ethereum, of which Uniswap Labs is a core contributor, is one of the exchanges users may tab over to.

• The widget allows OpenSea and FWB — both of which are launch partners for the new tool, along with Oasis.app — to integrate the swap tool on their website so their users can trade into native tokens without having to leave the site.
• Hundreds of organic integrations with Uniswap already exist, but the release of the widget makes it infinitely easier for any developer to integrate it into their project with just one line of code.

Of note: Users new to the space will need to learn how to use an Ethereum wallet. Also, brace yourself for fees the network itself charges — they can be brutal. Web3 is a learning curve.

The big picture: Uniswap Labs sees its mission as developing tools to help scale the web3 world and to make it accessible to everyone.

• “We need to simplify onboarding to web3 and simplify integration to web3 infrastructure,” Uniswap Labs COO Mary-Catherine Lader tells Axios.
• The rollout of the swap widget is a step toward that goal. Lader said there is no internal target for adoption of the widget. The goal is to grow the web3 landscape.
• “We want to 10x growth on web3 adoption,” she said.

The bottom line: A growing pie is good for everyone in the crypto ecosystem.

 
-Catch up quick

Portugal granted its first license to a crypto bank. (Decrypt)

Emerging economies’ case for and against central bank digital currencies earned 200+ pages in reports from the Bank of International Settlements. (BIS).

China laid out rules for NFTs that basically make them not very crypto. (Techcrunch)

Bonus: Many of you have asked me for primers. In this conversation, three of the industry’s smartest get down to the basic basics. It’s great — but you might still need to listen to it twice.

 
-Culture hash: Meta’s cut

Facebook changed its name to Meta because it’s so committed to moving online socializing into virtual reality.

• Jargon check: “Mint” is NFT terminology. It’s like the release of an album or book.

The company’s key product is Horizon Worlds, which doesn’t have non-fungible tokens (NFTs), but creators can make and sell virtual stuff. At a price.

• Meta will take a quarterof what’s left after any platform fee. So if a user is on iOS, Meta will take 25% of what’s left after Apple takes 30% of the total.

Context: When creators sell an NFT on the most popular marketplace for doing so, OpenSea, the company only takes 2.5%.

Πηγή: axios.com