DeFi Exchange Uniswap Receives Enforcement Notice from the SEC

Decentralized crypto exchange Uniswap received a notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it intends to pursue an enforcement action, the company disclosed on Wednesday.

Uniswap's native token, UNI, dropped 9.5% immediately after the news.

Uniswap CEO Hayden Adams announced the receipt of the so-called Wells notice on X, saying he wasn't surprised, "just annoyed, disappointed, and ready to fight."

Wells notices are preliminary warnings that inform respondents of the charges the regulator is considering bringing against them. They usually lead to enforcement actions.

In a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Uniswap's COO Mary-Catherine Lader and Chief Legal Officer Marvin Ammori told reporters that the content of the Wells notice was focused on Uniswap acting as an unregistered securities broker and unregistered securities exchange. It remains unclear whether Uniswap's native token, UNI, was implicated as a potential security in the SEC's notice.

Ammori said that he believes that Uniswap does not meet the SEC's current definition of an exchange. He also pointed to a recent ruling in the SEC's case against Coinbase – in which a judge said that Coinbase Wallet was not a broker – as a good sign for Uniswap's ability to beat the SEC on the same charges (the judge ruled that the SEC's other allegations against Coinbase could move forward).

"I am confident that the products we offer are legal and that our work is on the right side of history," Adams wrote. "But it's been clear for a while that rather than working to create clear, informed rules, the SEC has decided to focus on attacking long-time good actors like Uniswap and Coinbase. All while letting bad actors like FTX slip by."

In a Wednesday blog post, Uniswap wrote that the Wells notice, as well as the SEC’s lawsuits against Coinbase and other crypto companies, indicates that their action against Uniswap is just "the latest political effort to target even the best actors building technology on blockchains."

(Source: CoinDesk)