KeyTakeaways:
- SEC drops investigation into Uniswap Labs, marking a win for decentralized finance.
- Uniswap defends in opposition to SEC fees, arguing its protocol isn’t a securities change.
- CFTC fines Uniswap $175,000 for unlawful leveraged commodity transactions.
The U.S. Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) has formally concluded its investigation into Uniswap Labs, the corporate behind the world’s largest decentralized change (DEX), with out submitting any fees.
This marks the top of a authorized battle that has been ongoing since April 2024. The case, which was carefully noticed by the crypto market, centered across the SEC’s doable classification of Uniswap as an unregistered securities change.
In April 2024, the SEC investigated whether or not Uniswap Labs was working illegally as a securities change and whether or not its UNI token needs to be categorised as a safety. This investigation got here to a head when the SEC issued a Wells discover to the corporate, signaling that authorized motion may comply with. Nevertheless, after months of discussions and authorized challenges, the SEC has formally dropped its case.
Uniswap Labs strongly denied the fees in response to the SEC’s investigation. In Could 2024, the corporate submitted a 40-page response arguing that its protocol didn’t qualify as an change underneath U.S. legislation.
Marvin Ammori, Uniswap’s chief authorized officer, emphasized that the SEC’s claims have been primarily based on an incorrect assumption that every one tokens needs to be categorised as securities. The authorized crew additional argued that the SEC should redefine key authorized phrases, akin to “change” and “funding contract,” to deliver Uniswap underneath its regulatory scope.
CFTC Motion and Tremendous
Whereas Uniswap deflected the SEC’s fees, the corporate confronted one other problem from the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC). In September 2024, the CFTC imposed a $175,000 effective on Uniswap Labs for providing illegally traded commodity transactions.
The costs have been associated to particular buying and selling merchandise on the platform that allowed customers to realize leveraged publicity to digital property like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The effective was comparatively modest however communicated that decentralized finance (DeFi) operators should guarantee compliance with U.S. commodity legal guidelines.
Regardless of the CFTC effective, Uniswap Labs described the SEC’s choice to drop its investigation as a victory for the decentralized finance sector. CEO Hayden Adams accused the SEC of missing a transparent authorized basis in pursuing the corporate.
Adams additionally famous that the corporate had spent tens of millions defending itself through the investigation. He expressed gratitude towards the SEC’s new management for taking a extra constructive strategy than the earlier administration, including that one of the best days for DeFi have been forward.
