Uniswap NFT Aggregator
How is Uniswap's NFT aggregator running?
Introduction
For a long time now, decentralized finance (DeFi) is seen as entirely different from NFT trades within the crypto space. So there is a section of crypto users that focus solely on DeFi, and others that also solely focus on NFTs. However, the difference between the token standards of ERC721 and ERC20 is very thin. With the advent of the ERC1155 token standard, we can now have the combination of ERC721 & ERC20 in one token. It is on this basis of interoperability that Uniswap - long known as a DeFi OG - is adding NFTs to its baskets of services. It acquired the Genie NFT aggregator and relaunched it on November 30, 2022.
Diving into Uniswap’s NFT aggregator, first let’s look at the numbers that have characterized the platform since its launch. 2,040 different buyers against 5,650 different sellers have engaged in 3,200 different sales worth a total volume of 46.4 ETH. Daily NFT sales as seen in the bar chart below rose with the early hype but has since been tapering off in a decline.
Benefits of Using An NFT Aggregator?
NFT aggregators combine inventories from multiple NFT marketplaces into one unified interface giving users a convenient birds-eye view of the market. This enables easy price comparison and the purchase of pieces across different networks in a single transaction. Uniswap currently supports OpenSea, X2Y2, LooksRare, Sudoswap, Larva Labs, X2Y2, Foundation, NFT20, and NFTX.
Measuring activity in terms of transaction count, we can see a similar pattern to that of volume where there was an early hype but the transaction counts has slowly been tapering off. Looking at market share by platform volume, Opensea is responsible for 77.20% of volume followed by Looksrare (15.50%), x2y2 (4.37%), NFTx (1.88%), and Sudowap (1.11%).
Gas Savings
Uniswap’s main selling point was that the platform gurantees 15% more gas savings than other NFT market places so we want verify if this claim is true. We access this claim by calculating the average gas spent per trade and compare it to the two other NFT aggregators (Blur and Gem). Here are the results - Uniswap (0.007ETH), Gema (0.02ETH), and Blur (0.005ETH). Although Uniswap is significantly (3x) less in gas costs compared to Gem, Blur beas Uniswap by about 15% in gas savings.
As I mentioned earlier, Unswap got into the NFT space by acquiring Genie. Users who has used Genie more than once before April 15, 2022 at 00:00 UTC were eligible to receive 300 USDC. Looking at blockchain data, 15.89 thousand unique wallets qualified for this airdrop. Uniswap also rewarded Genie Genesis NFT owners but that’s beyond my technical limitation.
Conclusion
Uniswap’s NFT marketplace provides a unified interface for NFT traders to trade NFTs across various platforms which provides better visibility and understanding of the markets to traders. When it launched in late November 2022, there was initial hype which spiked volume and transaction count but those metrics have since tapered off. Comparing Uniswap to other market aggregators like Blur and Gem in terms of transaction costs, Uniswap saves 3x more gas than Gem but about 15% less than Blur. In all, Uniswap’s NFT platform is a good step in the right direction in combining the different worlds of DeFi and NFTs.