Uniswap Labs Acquires NFT Startup Genie

The world’s largest decentralized exchange protocol Uniswap has acquired the first NFT marketplace aggregator Genie. Uniswap said they acquired Genie as a result of their mission to unlock universal ownership and exchange.

Uniswap to expand product line by integrating NFTs

In a bid to make Uniswap an excellent platform for users and builders in Web3, the Decentralized finance protocol Uniswap will be integrating NFTs into their line of products, they would also integrate NFTs into developer APIs and widgets.

The DeFi protocol in its announcement said this isn’t their first time entering the NFTs space asthey had launched Unisocks – a platform for NFT liquidity pools and NFTs backed by real world assets – in 2019. It also worked on Uniswap v3 NFT which helped pioneer on-chain generative SVGs.

We see NFTs as another format for value in the growing digital economy—not a separate ecosystem from ERC20s—and they’re already an important gateway to web3. The company said in the announcement on its blog.

In line with Web3 ethos, Uniswap will be sharing some of the value with historical Genie users through a USDC airdrop. The airdrop will launch in August and be available to be claimed for up to 12 months, according to the company.

Solana NFT marketplace Magic Eden raises $130 million In a funding round

Magic Eden, the current kingpin of the Solana NFT community, which handles more than 90% of the ecosystem’s volume has raised a whooping $130 million in a Series B funding co-led by Greylock and Electrical Capital.

The round which was announced on Tuesday brings Magic Eden to a $1.6 billion valuation putting it on the same level with the Series B of Opensea. Magic Eden previously raised a $27 million Series A led by Paradigm, Sequoia and Solana Ventures in March.

Magic Eden says it plans to utilize the funds by expanding its primary and secondary marketplaces, as well as explore “multichain opportunities,” according to a press release.

CEO of Magic Eden Jack Lu, said in a statement that they are aware NFTs is the most efficient way to introduce people to the blockchain.