The Uniswap UNI token has risen 5.1% in the last 24 hours and more than 10% in the last week, despite mixed news highlighting its expansion as well as its alleged popularity among scammers.
In October, UNI rose by more than 16%. Its rise coincides with a more dramatic late-October surge by DOGE, which was recently trading at more than 13 cents, a more than 10% increase from Monday at the same time and its highest point since late April.
The popular meme coin increased by more than 100% in October, with the majority of the increase occurring in the final week of the month as billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk approached the completion of his purchase of Twitter.
Meanwhile, bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, traded sideways for the second day in a row, albeit in a more green than red hue.
BTC was comfortably above $20,000, its most recent support level, while ether remained above $1,500, where it climbed last week.
Riyad Carey, research analyst at crypto data firm Kaiko, attributed UNI’s rise to Uniswap’s Oct. 13 announcement of a $165 million Series B funding round led by Polychain Capital.
Following the completion of a governance vote, CoinDesk reported last month that UNI would soon be deployed on the privacy-focused layer 2 tool zkSync.
According to the company, the zkSync ecosystem will launch more than 100 projects on its main network, including top decentralized-finance (DeFi) platforms, infrastructure products, and on/off ramps.
According to Lucas Outumuro, head of research at crypto data and analysis firm IntoTheBlock, Uniswap has “a very high market share of volume” and is “benefiting disproportionately compared to other DEX tokens.”
However, over the last two days, Twitter has been buzzing about a Jan. 20 report that 97.7% of tokens launched on Uniswap were rug pulls, which means the developer attracts investors to a new cryptocurrency project but then pulls out before the project is built.
On Wednesday, cryptocurrency investors will be watching the Federal Open Market Committee’s latest interest rate decision, with expectations running high for a fourth consecutive 75 basis point hike.
They have become more optimistic in the last week that the United States’ central bank will reduce its hawkishness early next year – or even sooner – amid faint signs that the economy may not be heading into a deep recession, though a number of major investment banks have disagreed.
In a Telegram note, digital asset fund QCP Capital noted “markets shifting expectations towards a dovish outcome at the upcoming meeting,” but also expressed concern “about a negative market reaction to the Fed’s persistent hawkishness.”
