What is the difference between Uniswap and Bitcoin?

Bitcoin and Uniswap have been built with different purposes in mind. Bitcoin is deemed the first cryptocurrency for “electronic transfers” as outlined in its whitepaper. Uniswap (UNI) is an ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum blockchain and makes use of its Uniswap decentralised exchange (DEX) to exchange other ERC-20 tokens.

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency originally designed as a means of exchange, for goods and services as a digital replacement to fiat currency. UNI holds value in the same way Bitcoin does but is primarily designed for voting on governance proposals for its underlying DEX. Governance proposals are how changes are made on Uniswap and are part of the platform’s philosophy of being a decentralised entity. Although Bitcoin is also governed by community consensus via platforms like GitHub, these decisions are not voted for on-chain like Uniswap’s.

Bitcoin and Uniswap do share some features. This includes the proof of work consensus mechanism that it uses to verify blocks and introduce new tokens into circulation.