Apr 11, 2024 - Economy

Uniswap warns of potential enforcement action from SEC

Brady Dale

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Uniswap Labs was served with a notice Wednesday that it would likely be sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to a blog post from the company.

Why it matters: An enforcement action would continue the SEC's slow march against top cryptocurrency companies. Previous lawsuits against major U.S.-based crypto firms have hit Ripple Labs, Coinbase, Kraken, Bittrex and others.

Uniswap intends to fight the lawsuit, according to its statement.

Context: Details of the coming enforcement action aren't known. The SEC declined to acknowledge the investigation, as a matter of policy. Uniswap Labs has so far not provided a copy of the so-called Wells notice.

Zoom out: Uniswap Labs is the main developer behind the Uniswap decentralized exchange, which is the best known such exchange on any blockchain.

While the company developed all three versions of Uniswap, the application operates on its own, on 16 different blockchains.

By the numbers: Uniswap's token, UNI, is down 17% Thursday morning since news of the Wells notice, trading at $9.29.

More than $6 billion is deposited on various versions of Uniswap today, which collectively facilitate between $1 and $3 billion in trading volume per day.

The big picture: The main path to registering crypto assets with the SEC has been through litigation, which has largely ended with companies shutting down as part of a settlement.

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Uniswap warns of potential enforcement action from SEC

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