Looking to buy Uniswap (UNI) in the UK?
In 2022, there are more places than ever before where you can buy cryptocurrencies like this in the UK.
Check out this post for a quick overview of where you can get it in the UK.
Places to Buy Uniswap (UNI) in the UK
1. Coinbase
Coinbase has over 43 million verified users across more than 100 countries, with $90 billion in assets on the platform. They’re one of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency exchanges.
And fortunately, Coinbase has GBP wallets and supports UK bank transfers (via Faster Payments). This means that you can expect deposits to be credited quickly to your account.
But to get the lowest fees on Coinbase, you’ll have to toggle its Advanced Trade interface. You can do this with a desktop browser by:
- Selecting Trade in the sidebar.
- Once the page reloads, selecting the small Advanced tab at the top of the page.
Once this is toggled on, you’ll then pay up to 0.6% in fees when buying or selling cryptocurrencies like Uniswap (UNI).
- Create a Coinbase account.
- Deposit GBP into your Coinbase account with a UK bank transfer.
- Toggle the Advanced Trade interface (critical to get the lower fees).
- Buy Bitcoin (BTC) on the BTC/GBP spot market.
- Go to the UNI/BTC and buy Uniswap (UNI).
Because there’s not a GBP trading pair on Coinbase Advanced, you’ll need to make two trades. This means you’re paying the trading fees twice – effectively doubling the fees that you need to pay.
Coinbase WebsiteCoinbase Review
2. CoinJar
Established in 2013, CoinJar is an Australian-based company that has more recently expanded into the UK market.
Through the browser or mobile app, they’ve made it simple and easy to buy a growing number of cryptocurrencies. This includes Uniswap (UNI), as well as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and more than 50 other cryptocurrencies.
You can deposit GBP with a UK bank transfer and, like with Coinbase, it’ll usually be credited quickly. After my first deposit, my GBP has been credited within minutes.
There’s a 1% fixed fee when you buy Uniswap (UNI). However, the UNI/GBP exchange rate you’re quoted might be above the real exchange rate. When I’ve checked, it’s not been much higher though.
- Create a CoinJar account.
- Deposit GBP with a UK bank transfer to CoinJar.
- Buy Uniswap (UNI) with the GBP in your CoinJar account.
When you register on CoinJar, you’ll also get access to the CoinJar Exchange. If you decide to use this instead, you’ll pay lower fees (up to 0.1%). However, it is much less beginner-friendly.
What is Uniswap (UNI)?
Uniswap (UNI) is a popular decentralized exchange (DEX) for trading ERC-20 tokens.
Quick Facts:
- Decentralized exchange for trading ERC-20 cryptocurrencies.
- Currently processing 3 billion USD in daily trading volume.
- Allows users to swap coins from their private wallets (anonymously).
- Trading fees are 0.3% per transaction (on top of gas fees).
- UNI token has a total supply of 1 billion.
Uniswap (UNI) was deployed on the Ethereum Mainnet in November of 2018 and UNI, its native token, was launched two years later. UNI has a max supply of 1 billion and nearly 630 million tokens are currently in circulation.
The remaining tokens will be released by 2024 – mostly as rewards to token holders and team members. After that, the UNI supply will increase by 20 million tokens a year, meaning an inflation rate of 2%.
The UNI coin functions as a governance token, allowing holders to vote on proposed changes to the platform and ecosystem.
Centralized exchanges (CEX’s), like Coinbase and Binance, use an internal system to process trades. By comparison, Uniswap (UNI) uses an Automated Market Maker (AMM) to facilitate transfers between wallets. For a good overview of how Automated Markets Makers work, check out this.
Uniswap (UNI) relies on liquidity pools to process buy and sell orders. Liquidity pools are made from pairs of Ethereum (ETH) and other ERC-20 tokens. Examples include WETH/USDT and DAI/WETH.
Liquidity pools are not supplied by Uniswap but by individuals. People who provide cryptocurrency to the liquidity pools are known as liquidity providers, or LPs. For contributing to a liquidity pool, LPs are awarded a portion of the transaction fee, which is 0.3% for each buy and sell order.
To use Uniswap, simply connect an Ethereum-based wallet to the Uniswap network. Once connected, whatever coins you have in your wallet can be swapped with other coins on the Uniswap platform (assuming they are ERC-20). For an easy-to-understand tutorial on how to connect a wallet to Uniswap, check out this.
WETH stands for Wrapped Ethereum and is necessary for trading Ethereum (ETH) for other altcoins on Uniswap.
Ethereum (ETH) was released before the ERC-20 standard, which all Ethereum (ETH) based altcoins conform to. ETH doesn’t currently conform to the ERC-20 standard, meaning Wrapped Ethereum (WETH) is needed to represent its value in applications like Uniswap.
To learn more about this, check out this.
There are several prominent differences between centralized exchanges like Coinbase and decentralized exchanges like Uniswap, the most important of which include:
- To deposit funds and make trades, almost all centralized exchanges require customers to complete a KYC (know your customer) form. This form contains personal and financial information about the account holder. DEX’s don’t require KYC.
- All liquidity on a CEX is owned by the exchange itself. Liquidity on DEX’s is crowdfunded from users.
- CEX’s use an order book system that matches buyers with sellers. DEX’s use an automated market maker (AMM) to enable trading.
- When you hold cryptocurrency on a CEX, you don’t own the private keys to said coins. To use a DEX, you must connect a cryptocurrency wallet that YOU have ownership of and access to.
Best Uniswap (UNI) Wallets
Whether it be UNI or any other ERC-20 coin, you need to hold your cryptocurrency in a wallet to interact with Uniswap (UNI). It’s also considered good practice in general as it gives you private ownership over your keys.
Some hot wallet options:
- MetaMask: Connects easily to Uniswap(UNI) and works with all ERC-20 tokens. The wallet functions as a browser extension and can connect to several different blockchain networks.
- Trust Wallet: Because of its user-friendly interface, earn program, and large catalog of supported cryptocurrencies, Trust Wallet is one of the most popular mobile wallets. It allows users to connect to DeFi dapps on the Binance Smart Chain or Ethereum Network.
- Guarda Wallet: Another easy-to-use wallet available on both mobile and desktop. Direct buys are also supported through Visa, Mastercard, and SEPA payments.
One hardware wallet option that I really like is the Trezor Model T. Although a bit more expensive than some of the other cold storage options on the market, it supports tons of safety features, over 1,200 cryptocurrencies, and comes highly rated by users (and me in my Trezor Model T review).
Adding the UNI token to the Trezor T wallet can be done using Trezor Suite, the wallet’s mobile and desktop application. Trezor Suit can also be used to connect to DeFi platforms like Uniswap a 1Inch.
Other cold storage options you have include:
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