Could someone help me understand this?

I recently went to swap some wBTC for Ohm on uniswap (~$900). This has been a learning experience. So it took $40 in ETH to get approved and then they wanted an additional ~$170 in ETH for the swap. How is this efficient and what on earth is going on with this gas money. A that price X the number of transactions there is no way this system is financially efficient long term. I also am not a fan that DeFi does not explain this on the exchanges when you are going through it. So now I am stuck sitting on the wBTC (which isn't that big a deal) or I need to Buy $170+ more in ETH (not incuding fees) just to swap my wBTC for Ohm to stake. Fuck all that, how to I get a piece of this gas and fee action? Is there a place to invest to get returns on that?