In the blockchain industry, Uniswap has become a well-known name. However, recently there have been some teams impersonating Uniswap for false promotion. This behavior has caught the attention and alertness of the community members, and many of them have immediately recognized the scam, responding with mockery and ridicule.

According to a tweet by Roland in the arena (@thegrasscrown), these impersonators in Shenzhen, China, promoted $UNI under the pretext of "Uniswap Asia Summit" and "Guest: Uniswap CEO." Such actions not only mislead the public but also damage the brand image of Uniswap.

First, it is important to clarify that Uniswap is a decentralized trading platform with the core principles of openness, transparency, and fairness. Anyone can freely trade on Uniswap without the involvement of any centralized institution. Therefore, any claims of a "summit" or "CEO" representing Uniswap are untrue.

In fact, this scam is truly low-grade, and even insiders can easily recognize its falseness. Why is that? Let me explain what Uniswap is, and then you'll understand.

The Real Uniswap

Uniswap is a decentralized trading protocol operating on the Ethereum network. It facilitates cryptocurrency transactions through automated liquidity provision. Uniswap aims to create a fully decentralized trading platform where users can trade without intermediaries.

The working principle of Uniswap is based on a simple mathematical formula that calculates the exchange rate between two tokens. This formula is executed by a smart contract called a liquidity pool. The liquidity pool consists of two tokens deposited by users, who are referred to as liquidity providers. In return, liquidity providers receive transaction fees.

An important feature of Uniswap is that anyone can create a new trading pair. This means that anyone can list their tokens on Uniswap without the need for approval from centralized exchanges. This has made Uniswap a very popular decentralized finance (DeFi) project.

Another feature of Uniswap is its user interface, which is simple and easy to use. Users only need to connect their Ethereum wallets to start trading. Uniswap also provides a mobile application called Uniswap Wallet, which allows users to trade more conveniently.

Uniswap's development team, Uniswap Labs, is a highly active team. They frequently publish updates and announcements on their blog. For example, they recently released an article explaining how they received the Ethereum Foundation's Account Abstraction Award at the ETHTokyo 2023 event. They also published an article explaining why people like Uniswap Wallet.

Overall, Uniswap is a highly influential DeFi project. Its decentralized nature, user-friendly interface, and active development team have earned it widespread recognition in the cryptocurrency community.

Fake·Uniswap

Upon closer investigation, we have found that the majority of problematic content originates from the Twitter user Cocoahomology (@cocoahomology).

This user's tweets are mostly videos, with the majority featuring hotels or offices as backgrounds, displaying "Uniswap" posters and logos on walls or electronic screens.

One of the tweets with an English description stands out and contains amusing content.

The tweet highlights the following points:

1. Two videos show the earliest known images of the Uniswap Asia community architect.   2. These videos were filmed in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China, from May 13th to May 14th, and they depict the team discussing the project's fundamentals.   3. Uniswap Asia currently has offices in many cities in China.

These pieces of information indicate that a team impersonating Uniswap is actively engaged in false advertising, attempting to enhance its credibility by establishing offices in multiple cities. They even produce videos in an effort to demonstrate a legitimate foundation for their project. However, their actions actually resemble a pyramid scheme, an illegal business model typically luring new investors with promises of high returns.

Analysis of Scams

Perhaps everyone remembers the bull market that belonged to DeFi, affectionately known within the community as DeFi Summer. This bull market was largely ignited by Uniswap's airdrop.

The Uniswap airdrop event took place in September 2020 and presented an opportunity for many to achieve financial freedom. Uniswap's governance token, UNI, was airdropped to all users who had used Uniswap before September. Each user received a minimum of 400 UNI tokens. Some referred to this airdrop as "Ethereum users' stimulus plan." It caused a tremendous reaction within the cryptocurrency community as it was a bold move that demonstrated Uniswap's commitment to its users and decentralized finance.

DeFi Summer refers to a period during the summer of 2020 when the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry experienced unprecedented growth. During this time, the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi skyrocketed from millions to billions of dollars. This growth was driven by a series of innovative decentralized applications (Dapps) that offered a range of financial services, including liquidity mining, lending, and insurance.

The main characteristic of DeFi Summer was "liquidity mining." Liquidity mining is a mechanism where users can deposit their tokens into a smart contract and, in return, receive new tokens. These new tokens can be used for governance participation or exchanged for fiat currency on decentralized exchanges. This mechanism attracted a significant influx of funds into the DeFi space and addressed the liquidity issues faced in the early stages of DeFi.

However, DeFi Summer also brought about some challenges. Due to the lack of centralized regulatory bodies, the DeFi space often witnessed protocol hacks. Additionally, there was an abundance of copycat projects that aimed to imitate successful DeFi projects but often lacked innovation and security.

Despite these challenges, DeFi Summer remains a significant milestone. It changed people's perception of finance and laid the foundation for a better and more inclusive financial system.

However, DeFi Summer has come to an end, and Uniswap will no longer have mysterious airdrops. So, what exactly are these so-called "communities" promoting? Are they praising Uniswap's decentralization? Are they aiming to create another DeFi Summer? I believe none of that is true.

Often, these operations that take advantage of information asymmetry engage in pyramid schemes or Ponzi schemes, enticing victims to invest in worthless tokens under the guise of legitimate projects. They might even adopt a name similar to UNI, but it's not the same UNI. This deceptive practice of fake coins within genuine projects can mislead unsuspecting individuals who search online and find Uniswap, its wealth generation effects, and the UNI token with a good price. Subsequently, they may proceed with purchases or be persuaded to provide money under various pretexts, promising tokens (fake ones) or generous returns. However, these returns typically require locking or staking, preventing victims from immediately cashing out.

Summary

In fact, such impersonation can potentially harm users of Uniswap. If users are misled by this false information, they may buy or sell $UNI at inappropriate times, resulting in financial losses. Additionally, these impostors may use the name of Uniswap for fraudulent activities, such as claiming to have special trading opportunities or providing false investment advice.

Ultimately, we must remain vigilant against such impersonation, as it can damage the credibility of the entire blockchain industry. The development of the blockchain industry relies on public trust, and this kind of impersonation can undermine that trust.

In conclusion, we must remain cautious of these attempts to impersonate Uniswap and remind the public not to easily believe unverified information. Furthermore, we hope that Uniswap and other blockchain projects can take more measures to prevent such impersonation.

For example, Uniswap can issue official statements through its official channels, clearly stating that they have not organized any summit in Shenzhen, China, and that there is no "Uniswap CEO" attending any such event. Additionally, Uniswap can strengthen its brand protection by taking legal action against impersonators.

We also need to remind the public to exercise caution when dealing with investment information, especially information from unverified sources. Before making any investment decisions, thorough research should be conducted, and professional investment advice should be sought.

In the blockchain industry, we need to work together to maintain an open, transparent, and fair environment. Only then can we ensure the healthy development of blockchain technology and allow more people to benefit from this revolutionary technology.

Indeed, the disruptive nature of blockchain and the continuous development of cryptocurrency are evident to us. I am a Web3 enthusiast who believes in Bitcoin. More than once, when discussing Bitcoin with others, I have been labeled as someone involved in pyramid schemes. Yes, it is because of a group of scammers who use the name of blockchain and Bitcoin to engage in fraudulent activities that the widespread adoption and development of Bitcoin face numerous challenges. Whenever this happens, I always tell those people that the Bitcoin they are talking about is not the same thing I am involved in. What they know is just a scam using the names "National Project 378" or "Aerospace Project 938," only with a different name.