Uniswap, a leading decentralized exchange (DEX), has been targeted by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), having received a Wells notice on April 10.
The notice, as disclosed by Uniswap's Chief Legal Officer Marvin Ammori on X, signals potential enforcement action against the platform.
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Ammori, while disappointed, wasn't surprised by the notice. He sees it as another "abuse of power" by the SEC, reflecting on past cases where the commission has been accused of overstepping its authority in crypto project regulation.
He also argued that the SEC only has jurisdiction over securities, and most tokens, like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH), are not securities. Ammori also stated that Uniswap's operations do not fit the legal definitions of a securities exchange or broker, adding:
If the SEC had authority over our self-custodial, non-intermediated products, it could tell us how to register them. It can't, and so it doesn't. It has provided no clarity and no guidance – as several SEC commissioners have stated in multiple dissents.
Uniswap also reflected that if the SEC continues to attack innovative, transparent technologies that could provide Americans with more opportunities and lower costs, the US risks falling behind on innovations that enhance customer freedom and choice.
The SEC's actions against Uniswap echo its previous lawsuits against other crypto exchanges like Coinbase, highlighting the regulator's intent to establish oversight in DeFi.
Such cases establish important precedents and implications for decentralized platforms operating within the US regulatory framework.
