The Uniswap Foundation launches University, can learning from CEX bring incremental liquidity to DeFi?

Author: Kaori, BlockBeats
Editor: Jack, BlockBeats

On September 21, the Uniswap Foundation announced the launch of the educational platform "Uniswap University" in collaboration with DoDAO, which focuses on blockchain education. This comprehensive educational platform is tailored for everyone from beginners to experienced Uniswap v3 liquidity providers, providing participants with structured learning pathways through four main sections: Guides, Tidbits, Simulations, and Courses, enabling users to better engage in the DeFi world.

The last educational wave in the crypto space was sparked by the launch of the Web3 education protocol Open Campus on Binance Launchpad, marking the first time the combination of Web3 and education, as well as introductory and development education for Web3, entered the industry spotlight. While both aim to break down barriers for ordinary Web2 users or developers entering the Web3 world and act as catalysts for the mass adoption of Web3, Uniswap University differs from Open Campus in that it currently has no derivative content such as token economics. From its official website interface, there are only entrances to the four main learning sections, with no official docs or links to other Uniswap platforms.

Uniswap University also does not offer any incentive mechanisms; after you select a chapter you want to learn and complete it, there is a very simple feedback mode. Yes, just like those study websites used for homework in regular universities, each section will provide a few practice questions afterward, which is indeed very suitable for beginners.

Uniswap is already the leader in DEX, and now launching such a user-friendly educational platform leaves more room for discussion. It is worth mentioning that Uniswap's chosen partner, DoDAO, aims to bring 1 million people into DeFi, DAO, and NFT by 2025.

Overview of Uniswap University Content

Guides: This section provides easily understandable information, ranging from basic explanations like "What is a DEX?" to advanced topics such as "Strategy Backtesting Tools," supplemented with explanatory videos and visuals.

Tidbits: "Short on time? Master the basics in just 30 seconds." Compared to the richness and diversity of the first section, this section's content is very suitable for quick reviews or brief understandings, with a card-style UI design that feels like vocabulary flashcards.

Simulations: This part is where you dive into practical learning. In this section, you can practice scenarios like adding and removing liquidity, and explore advanced position management tools. This serves as a video tutorial, with demonstrations for each step, making it more user-friendly for crypto beginners compared to reading text tutorials.

Courses: The fourth part of the website currently consists of two course teachings, allowing you to delve into structured courses on Uniswap, covering everything from basic concepts in "Introduction to Uniswap" to mastering strategies in the "Liquidity Provider Course."

Essential "User Education" for Crypto CEX

Currently, it is unclear who the main personnel behind the establishment of Uniswap University are, but as a decentralized DAO organization and DEX, launching an educational platform that requires concentrated resources and effort is commendable. In contrast, CEX has a greater advantage in this regard.

As the leader in the crypto CEX world, Binance also has its own educational platform—Binance Academy. Here, courses and educational content are also launched, but from the website navigation bar's "Learn & Earn" and "Partnership," it is evident that Binance Academy's ecosystem is more complex and has more ambitions compared to Uniswap University.

In April of this year, Binance launched the AI-based cryptocurrency knowledge assistant Binance Sensei, which covers over 1,000 articles and courses on Binance Academy, helping users learn about cryptocurrency, blockchain, and Web3.

Image source: Binance Academy official website

Binance has focused on user education and trading instruction for a long time. In 2022, CZ and other crypto executives collaborated with the online education platform Masterclass to launch crypto courses covering topics such as the history of cryptocurrency, decentralization, Web3, DAO, NFT, and the volatility of niche markets.

In addition to Binance, another major CEX is also making strides in crypto education. On May 17, Coinbase launched the educational platform Base Camp for Web3 developers. Previously, it was an internally developed educational platform by Coinbase to accelerate the onboarding speed of developers, running on the Ethereum Layer 2 network Base infrastructure.

Unlike multifunctional learning platforms like Coursera and edX, Base Camp includes on-chain exercises, providing developers with practical experience. At each learning milestone, developers will receive NFT badges. Additionally, it has community organizations that can connect to everyone using Base Camp for development.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong once divided the company's mission into four phases in his not-so-secret "secret master plan," with each phase aiming to increase the number of employees tenfold. Now, transitioning from the third phase to the fourth phase requires attracting 1 billion users, and Coinbase believes this necessitates 1 million developers to build useful dapps that these users will love. Jesse Pollak, head of the Coinbase protocol team, stated in an interview that this means bringing a small portion of the approximately 30 million Web2 developers into Web3, which is precisely the purpose of Base Camp.

Returning to Uniswap University, its mission is also to bring more people into the Web3 world.

Will Education Be the Breakthrough for DeFi Liquidity?

The mission of Uniswap University is "to help everyone understand and acquire liquidity." This mission tells us the "What" and "How" of Uniswap University, with the implication of the "Why" behind launching this platform.

Uniswap benefited from the DeFi Summer of 2020, growing into the largest DEX today, and has successfully saturated its currently reachable market. Uniswap V3 accounts for 46.5% of the trading volume of all decentralized exchanges, and in May 2022, it set a record with a cumulative trading volume of $1 trillion.

However, as more and more growing DEXs compete for market share, a single dominant player cannot sustain itself, which means that continuing to optimize DEX and squeezing growth from the existing market will not be enough to maintain its current trajectory. The most direct manifestation of this is the ongoing liquidity shortage for Uniswap.

Image source: DeFiLlama

Related reading: "CEX VS DEX: A Comparative Study of Liquidity Between Uniswap V3 and Binance"

According to Coingecko data, in the first half of 2023, Uniswap accounted for 64% of the DEX market share, but in the first half of 2022, this figure was 89%.

There are over 13,000 liquidity pools on Uniswap V3. For example, about 1,500 pools in the Uniswap liquidity pool use wETH as the base or quote asset, accounting for approximately 11% of the total number of pools. Surprisingly, for smaller tokens like CRV, Uniswap's liquidity is lower compared to the top 5 most liquid CEXs providing the CRV-(w)ETH market.

Compared to centralized trading platforms, the trading operations on Uniswap can be somewhat challenging and have higher barriers for newcomers, which may be the greatest significance of Uniswap University. Attracting more people into the world of DEX is more urgent for Uniswap than bringing Web2 users into the crypto world.