Uniswap

Uniswap is a semi-decentralized cryptocurrency exchange that utilizes a set of smart contracts (liquidity pools) to execute trades on its platform.
It leverages smart contracts to facilitate automated transactions between cryptocurrency tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.
Founded in November 2018 by Hayden Adams, a former mechanical engineer at Siemens, Uniswap has received investments from business angel Ric Burton and venture capital firms, including Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm Venture Capital, Union Square Ventures LLC and ParaFi.
With an average daily trading volume of US$220 million in October 2020, Uniswap has become a popular choice for traders and investors due to its usage in decentralized finance (DeFi).
Uniswap is a decentralized finance protocol that is used to exchange cryptocurrencies and tokens on blockchain networks that run open-source software, as opposed to centralized exchanges.
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.
The protocol utilizes liquidity pools to fulfill orders instead of relying on a market maker, with the aim of creating more efficient markets.
Liquidity providers are rewarded with a percentage of the trading fees earned for that trading pair, and no fees are required to list tokens, allowing a large amount of Ethereum tokens to be accessible without registration.
As open-source software, Uniswap’s code can also be forked to create new exchanges.