Users can now purchase cryptocurrencies on Uniswap’s web app with a debit card, a credit card, and a bank transfer, thanks to Uniswap Lab’s partnership with Moonpay.
Users in most U.S. states, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) will be able to use the bank transfer option soon.
Uniswap announced that its users will now have access to fiat-to-crypto conversions on Ethereum, Polygon, Optimism, and Artibrum within minutes.
The backend of the arrangement is handled by MoonPay, a digital assets infrastructure and payments processor that handles direct bank transfers and credit and debit card purchases for customers in more than 160 countries.
MC Lader, the Chief Operation Officer of Uniswap Labs, said, “User experience has been one of the primary reasons why people have not embraced decentralized technology, thus, making it their number one priority to improve it.” Moreover, users of the app have complete control over their funds.
Uniswap asserts that decentralized exchanges offer a significantly higher level of security than centralized exchanges due to their user safeguards, self-managed wallets, permissionless, immutable protocols, and a public ledger visible to all.
Ivan Soto-Wright, CEO of MoonPay, said UniSwap is one of the most prominent trading platforms on the Web3. We aim to illustrate how DeFi embeds accessibility and usability, making it easier to onboard the world to Web3.
According to the company, decentralized finance (DeFi) onboarding has been a major challenge for adoption since users consider CEXs more convenient despite associated risks. Through its latest rollout, Uniswap hopes to streamline the onboarding process by eliminating spread fees on USDC and lowering processing fees.
Blockchains supported include Arbitrum, Ethereum’s mainnet, Optimism, and Polygon. A range of token types will be supported at launch, including DAI, ETH, MATIC, USDC, USDT, WBTC, and WETH. $15 is typically the minimum purchase amount in local currency.
The availability of each cryptocurrency depends on where the customer is based, and similar restrictions apply to support bank account transfers versus using a debit card. A region-specific MoonPay’s know-your-customer (KYC) requirement applies to purchases of cryptocurrencies with fiat.
According to DeFi Llama, Uniswap is ranked as the No. 5 DeFi protocol with a total locked value (TVL) of $3.35 Billion. The protocol processed $590M worth of trades over the last 24 hours.
With the collapse of FTX, the benefits of using non-custodial decentralized exchanges over centralized custodial platforms have taken center stage in crypto discourse. The company is accused of misappropriating customer funds to bail out its sister company, Alameda Research, and make other investments.