The journey from EtherDelta to Uniswap V4 represents one of crypto’s most important evolution stories. Understanding DEX history helps you appreciate why current protocols work the way they do.
The Early Days (2016-2017)
- EtherDelta — First Ethereum DEX, used on-chain order books
- Clunky UX, high gas costs, slow execution
- Proved decentralized trading was possible
The AMM Revolution (2018-2020)
- Uniswap V1 (2018) — Introduced constant product AMM
- Uniswap V2 (2020) — ERC20-ERC20 pairs, flash swaps
- DeFi Summer 2020 — Explosive growth, yield farming
Competition and Innovation (2020-2021)
- SushiSwap — Vampire attack, fork innovation
- Curve — StableSwap for stablecoins
- Balancer — Multi-asset weighted pools
The Efficiency Era (2021-Present)
- Uniswap V3 — Concentrated liquidity
- Layer 2s — Arbitrum, Optimism reduce costs
- Aggregators — 1inch, Paraswap optimize routing
Key Takeaways
- DEXes evolved from clunky order books to elegant AMMs
- Competition drove rapid innovation
- Different AMM designs suit different use cases
- L2s and aggregators solved scalability and pricing
- The next era focuses on customization (V4 hooks)