Why Is Uniswap (UNI) Up 30% Today?

UNI's market cap surged to almost $6 billion, making it the 21st-biggest cryptocurrency. UNI is the best-performing cryptocurrency (from the top 100 list) today (September 18), posting a whopping increase of 30% and reaching a 10-month high of nearly $9.20. Here’s what fueled the rally and what the next potential targets are. The Catalysts Perhaps the main driver of the move is the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The regulator issued its Innovation Exemption, which gives temporary relief for on-chain trading of certain tokenized stocks. Hayden Adams (inventor of the Uniswap Protocol and CEO at Uniswap Labs) said the most bullish news is not the official statement, but the comment letter from SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, which reads: “Truly decentralized systems that are driven by autonomous software… do not need an exemption.” Adams said this sort of immunity applies to permissioned pools on Uniswap v4, creating a pathway for compliant trading in the US for assets and users where that is necessary. Another catalyst is the broader recovery of the cryptocurrency market, which, despite the CLARITY Act’s failure and the interest rate hike in the United States, is in green ter...