Last week, Uniswap launched its UNI token and set the crypto market ablaze with renewed interest in the DeFi project. The 400 free tokens essentially acted as a stimulus check, and as investors rushed to cash their “checks,” it brought Ethereum fees sky-high to a record nearly $1 million in a single hour.
What does this mean for Ethereum, and what does it say about the demand for Uniswap’s new DeFi coin?
UNI FOMO Drives ETH Gas Fees To Record One-Hour Highs
The DeFi trend has brought about flashbacks of the crypto hype bubble, where new projects were minted by the day and untold wealth was generated.
Two platforms central to this trend, Ethereum, which most projects are built on, and Uniswap, the platform where these tokens make their debut, have been topping charts recently.
Related Reading | Is Uniswap’s UNI Token Behind Ethereum’s 6% 24 Hour Surge?
Last week’s surprise introduction of the UNI token by liquidity pooling platform Uniswap caused Ethereum prices to surge as users bought up ETH to spend on gas fees to access the free tokens and cash them in. Those who paid the least were forced to wait up to as long as ten hours for transactions to complete, unless they forked over costly ETH fees.
UNI tokens were almost instantly worth nearly $3, and those who sold the DeFi tokens secured a stimulus check-comparative amount of free