{"id":8449,"date":"2024-09-06T08:23:59","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T15:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=8449"},"modified":"2024-09-06T08:23:59","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T15:23:59","slug":"uniswap-labs-beset-by-regulators-for-building-a-decentralized-exchange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2024\/09\/06\/uniswap-labs-beset-by-regulators-for-building-a-decentralized-exchange\/","title":{"rendered":"Uniswap Labs Beset by Regulators for Building a Decentralized Exchange"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Decentralized finance involving cryptocurrencies and tokens is a very interesting software frontier, and not something that governments or bankers want to see succeed. You can learn more about <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Uniswap\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Uniswap on from their Wikipedia page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/09\/04\/uniswap-labs-regulators-cftc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/09\/04\/uniswap-labs-regulators-cftc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ub-divider ub_divider ub-divider-orientation-horizontal\" id=\"ub_divider_043026d3-459a-433d-b793-203bdc666bf3\"><div class=\"ub_divider_wrapper\" style=\"position: relative; margin-bottom: 2px; width: 100%; height: 2px; \" data-divider-alignment=\"center\"><div class=\"ub_divider_line\" style=\"border-top: 2px solid #ccc; margin-top: 2px; \"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>By Brady Dale<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/XkM16NAQ6AePE8w07okg94OTPeU=\/0x286:4000x2536\/1920x1080\/2024\/09\/04\/1725478404521.jpg?w=1920\" alt=\"A man speaking in an official setting, with a few people blurry in the background. \"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rostin Behnam, chairman of US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), speaks during a House Agriculture Committee hearing in Washington, DC. Photo: Valerie Plesch\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Uniswap Labs, the firm behind the world&#8217;s most popular <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/04\/03\/dex-record-high-solana\">decentralized exchange<\/a>, is under fire from a variety of regulators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>If regulators want to throw a giant monkey wrench into the crypto economy, making people afraid to use Uniswap would be a great way to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Driving the news: <\/strong>Uniswap Labs today agreed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cftc.gov\/PressRoom\/PressReleases\/8961-24\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a $175,000 settlement<\/a> with the CFTC, while some of its chief investors received <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/policy\/2024\/09\/04\/vc-giants-a16z-union-square-ventures-get-subpoenaed-by-new-york-about-uniswap-sources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">subpoenas<\/a> from the New York Department of Financial Services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The CFTC settlement concerned trading for various tokens that represent leveraged trades on leading crypto assets, such as bitcoin (BTC) and ETH.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This all comes after the SEC previously served Uniswap Labs with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/04\/11\/uniswap-sec-enforcement-action-wells-notice\">a Wells Notice<\/a>, which indicates that it&#8217;s likely to take legal action.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Catch up quick: <\/strong>Uniswap has been, arguably, the most successful project in the world of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2021\/04\/17\/crypto-industry-decentralized-finance\">decentralized finance<\/a>, with nearly <a href=\"https:\/\/defillama.com\/protocol\/uniswap?volume=true&amp;groupBy=cumulative\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$3 trillion worth of cryptocurrency trades<\/a> taking place over the exchange over the life of the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Notably, the exchange cannot be shut down. It exists as immutable smart contracts on various blockchains.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The intrigue: <\/strong>The CFTC settlement explicitly refers to ether (ETH) as a commodity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>SEC Chair Gary Gensler has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/policy\/2023\/04\/19\/sec-chair-gensler-declines-to-say-if-ether-is-a-security-in-contentious-congressional-hearing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declined to do<\/a> the same, which could be a breadcrumb for a future lawsuit by his agency.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Go deeper: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/08\/12\/sec-questions-vcs-uniswap\">The SEC has questions for VCs about Uniswap<\/a> (below)<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ub-divider ub_divider ub-divider-orientation-horizontal\" id=\"ub_divider_e5aacfbd-e53b-4830-a70a-85f61b69515b\"><div class=\"ub_divider_wrapper\" style=\"position: relative; margin-bottom: 2px; width: 100%; height: 2px; \" data-divider-alignment=\"center\"><div class=\"ub_divider_line\" style=\"border-top: 2px solid #ccc; margin-top: 2px; \"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The SEC has questions for VCs about Uniswap<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>By Dan Primack<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/cc55jxQwUTJAe6E8xyDE-6lZrhk=\/0x0:5500x3094\/1920x1080\/2024\/08\/12\/1723475855309.jpg?w=1920\" alt=\"Uniswap logo\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Photo: Silas Stein\/picture alliance via Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Several venture capital funds, including Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures, have received letters from the SEC over their involvement with decentralized crypto exchange operator Uniswap Labs, per multiple sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The big picture: <\/strong>Uniswap Labs has raised over $170 million in VC funding, most recently in late 2022 at nearly a $1.7 billion valuation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Catch up quick:<\/strong> The company received, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/policy\/2024\/05\/21\/uniswap-labs-urges-sec-to-drop-pending-enforcement-action-in-wells-response\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">responded to<\/a>, a Wells Notice earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In short, it appears that regulators may accuse Uniswap of being an unregistered exchange.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Zoom in: <\/strong>A bit of irony is that Uniswap is less vertically integrated than is SEC <em>bete noire <\/em>Coinbase, in that it&#8217;s not really the broker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Also worth noting that even if Uniswap Labs was shut down as a company, the actual Uniswap products would keep running.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Decentralized finance involving cryptocurrencies and tokens is a very interesting software frontier, and not something that governments or bankers want to see succeed. You can learn more about Uniswap on from their Wikipedia page. https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/09\/04\/uniswap-labs-regulators-cftc By Brady Dale Uniswap Labs, the firm behind the world&#8217;s most popular decentralized exchange, is under fire from a variety [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8449"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8450,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8449\/revisions\/8450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}