Quick Verdict
Uniswap (UNI) is NOT HALAL or HIGHLY DOUBTFUL for Muslim investors. Uniswap facilitates cryptocurrency trading including leveraged and speculative transactions. While currency exchange (sarf) is permitted in Islam, Uniswap's model includes providing liquidity to earn fees from speculative traders, which creates significant concerns.
What Uniswap Does
Uniswap uses an automated market maker (AMM) model where liquidity providers deposit token pairs into pools and earn fees from traders who swap between them. The protocol processes billions in trading volume daily.
Why Uniswap Is Problematic
First, Uniswap facilitates highly speculative cryptocurrency trading — many traders use it for meme coins, leveraged positions, and pure speculation. Providing infrastructure for this speculation is questionable under Islamic principles.
Second, liquidity provision on Uniswap involves depositing assets and earning a "yield" from trading fees — this starts to resemble a financial product rather than pure commerce.
Third, Uniswap is often used to launch and trade scam tokens and projects, contributing to a gambling-like environment.
The UNI Token Specifically
UNI gives governance rights over the protocol — essentially owning a stake in a decentralized trading venue. Most major Islamic screening services classify this as non-compliant.
Bottom Line
Uniswap's primary function is facilitating speculative cryptocurrency trading. UNI token holders have ownership in this trading venue. This is not compatible with Islamic finance principles.