Hayden Adams, an Ethereum (ETH) developer and the inventor of the Uniswap Exchange Protocol, recently revealed how he established a company focused on developing open finance products.
Uniswap, an Ethereum-based, peer-to-peer (P2P) protocol for “automated token exchange,” currently has nearly $10 million locked in its contracts according to DeFi Pulse. Adams, who recently graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, noted via Twitter that his firm recently closed a fundraising round.
Working With Coinbase Board Member Fred Ehrsam
Uniswap’s seed round was reportedly closed last week, with investments made by San Francisco-based hedge fund and venture capital firm Paradigm. According to Adams’ tweet, he will now be working closely with Fred Ehrsam, the co-founder of Paradigm who also serves on Coinbase’s board of directors.
Explaining how he got started with his crypto business, Adams mentioned that Uniswap began as “a side project” for him. He added that it was “a way [for him] to learn the required skills to transition from [being a] mechanical engineer” to a cryptocurrency-based project developer.
How It All Started
Going on to reveal what his Uniswap project website looked like when he had first started to work on it, Adams shared the following screenshot:
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Uniswap started as a side project for me. A way to learn the required skills to transition from mechanical engineer to crypto dev.
This is what it looked like in Nov. 2017 when it was my first smart contract, first website, and first major coding project! pic.twitter.com/EUkPV0X7sM
— Hayden Adams 🦄 (@haydenzadams) April 23, 2019
The crypto entrepreneur further noted that after one year of development work, he launched Uniswap, a project he described as “a decentralized exchange protocol complete with an audit and open-source frontend.”
He also stated that this would “not have been possible” without the “support” of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and Karl Floersch (a researcher and developer focused on the ongoing development of Ethereum, Casper, and cryptoeconomics).
Adams continued to share what has happened since his Uniswap project officially went live:
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The five months since launch have passed at breakneck speed.
I knew Uniswap was special, but did not expect such rapid growth in community support and usage.
No one has to trust me to use it. To me this is a testament to the unstoppable power of open finance and @ethereum. pic.twitter.com/BW5b3e9y89
— Hayden Adams 🦄 (@haydenzadams) April 23, 2019
“Open-Source Financial System Will Lead To Fairer Wealth Distribution”
Adams added that he “strongly believes an open-source financial system will result in a fairer distribution of wealth and increased participation by those excluded from our current system.” His goal is to “move [the Uniswap project] forward as much as possible, and push it in an inclusive [and] equitable direction.”
According to Adams, “creating a more equitable and accessible financial system] was foremost in [his] mind when [he] decided to raise money and form a company.”
He remarked:
I've had so many incredible contributors and supporters. It's not my intention to diminish this support when I say that through all of this, I've been the only person working on Uniswap full-time.
In order to help him further expand the Uniswap project, which includes working on management, “research, development, marketing, and fundraising,” Adams has reportedly hired senior engineer Noah Zinsmeister, and a few other professionals to help move the DeFi initiative forward.
Commenting on Uniswap’s business strategy, Adams said:
I am often asked for my thoughts on funding for public good projects. With regards to business model, we are still early in the ideation phase. However, the open and decentralized nature of Uniswap will remain a core value of any project that I lead.
