Two weeks into 2021, where do Uniswap and Sushiswap platforms stand?
2021 started off with a bang for the cryptocurrency market and the world of decentralized finance [DeFi] was not left behind. Last year was a big year for the DeFi space and experts argue this year could be even better. Two of the most talked-about platforms in the sector were Uniswap and its clone Sushiswap whose battles kept the community occupied most part of 2020.
A Wrap up of Uniswap & Sushiswap
Uniswap has seen astonishing growth over the past several months. As per Total Value Locked [TVL] in terms of the US Dollar, the DeFi platform stood at the third position totaling a whopping $2.65 billion. Moreover, Uniswap had 70.3K Bitcoins and 2.4 million Ether locked in it.
Sushiswap, on the other hand, was positioned at the 7th spot with $1.74 billion in terms of TVL in USD with 1.6 million Ether and 46.3k Bitcoin locked in it.
Even as TVL is undoubtedly the most popular metric for measuring the growth and activity of DeFi dApps, it, however, projects an incomplete picture of the various ways the DeFi wave has intensified over the past couple of months, especially on the Ethereum network. Hence, to comprehend the activity on both the protocols, it is important to complement the TVL figures of the respective protocols with other metrics.
Important Metrics To Consider
In terms of userbase, Sushiswap has 49,816 as of the 14th of January and has witnessed a steady growth since its inception back in September 2020. It recorded a 24-hour trading volume of $163 million. Uniswap, however, boasts a much higher figure both in terms of users, which was found to be at 728,180 while its trading volume currently stood at $1.22 billion.
Moreover, Uniswap’s gas consumption has been reported to be quite high. Owing to the creation of nearly 25k different markets for trading and the massive userbase, Uniswap surpasses every other DeFi application on Ethereum with respect to gas consumption.
In terms of the total DEX volume as well, Unsiwap takes the cake home with 99.8% of the share while Sushiswap stands at 0.23%. Despite being arch-nemesis, both the projects have managed to create a niche for themselves in the market thanks to the advantages that a decentralized system in place which makes that possible. Messari’s Ryan Watkins, on a similar note, stated,
“The best part about the competition between Uniswap and SushiSwap is that it is completely transparent and trackable in real-time. No need to wait for financial filings, no need to make estimates, It’s all auditable on-chain. An open window into competition at hyper-speed.”
Along the same line, Erik Voorhees, the CEO of ShapeShift also noted,
“A public, real-time liquidity battle between two relatively decentralized crypto pools. It exists in cyberspace, nobody is forced to participate, & nobody can turn it off. This is sci-fi digital hyper-capitalism finance… and it’s coming for the banking system”