When you trade crypto without a middleman, you're using a decentralized exchange, a platform that lets users swap tokens directly from their wallets using smart contracts, without relying on a central company to hold their funds. Also known as a DEX, it’s the backbone of DeFi—and two of the most used are Curve and Uniswap. Both let you trade tokens, but that’s where the similarity ends.
Curve is built for swapping stablecoins—like USDT, USDC, DAI—with near-zero slippage and ultra-low fees. It’s not for trading Bitcoin or meme coins. It’s for people who want to move between stable assets without losing value to price swings. Curve uses a special algorithm designed for assets that are meant to stay at $1.00. That’s why liquidity providers earn steady fees from traders moving between stablecoins. You won’t find wild price jumps here, and that’s the point.
Uniswap, on the other hand, is the go-to for everything else. It supports thousands of tokens, including new meme coins, experimental DeFi projects, and obscure tokens no one else lists. It’s the wild west of DEXes. Uniswap uses a simple constant product formula (x * y = k), which works great for most tokens but causes big price swings when trading large amounts of low-liquidity coins. That’s why you see 10%+ slippage on some trades—it’s not a bug, it’s how the system is built. Uniswap also lets you earn by adding liquidity to any pair, even if it’s risky.
Curve and Uniswap don’t compete—they complement each other. Traders often use Uniswap to buy a new token, then move it to Curve to swap into a stablecoin before cashing out. Liquidity providers might deposit ETH and USDC on Uniswap for higher yield, then move stablecoin pairs to Curve for safer, steady returns. One isn’t better than the other. It depends on what you’re trying to do.
Looking at the posts below, you’ll see real-world examples of how these DEXes fit into bigger crypto stories. From Polycat Finance on Polygon to Balancer V2 on Gnosis Chain, the DeFi space is full of alternatives trying to improve on Curve and Uniswap’s models. Some focus on lower fees, others on better yields or new chains. But if you understand how Curve and Uniswap work, you’ll see why most of them exist—and why they often fail.
Curve Finance on Polygon is the most efficient DEX for stablecoin swaps in 2025, offering low fees, minimal slippage, and high liquidity. Learn how it works, why it beats Uniswap, and how to use crvUSD and CRV rewards.