Uniswap Founder: SEC Probe Consumed Significant Resources for Over 3 Years, All Charges Now Dropped

BlockBeats News, February 26th, Uniswap founder Hayden Adams posted that the "U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC, under the leadership of the previous administration) had attempted to accuse Uniswap Labs of operating an unregistered broker-dealer, exchange, and clearing agency, and issuing unregistered securities. Now, these accusations have been dropped.

Uniswap Labs is not a broker-dealer. The Uniswap protocol is not an unregistered exchange or clearing agency, and it is not operated by Labs. UNI is not a security. The SEC investigated us without clear legal basis, as a form of selective enforcement strategy, attempting to forcibly fit DeFi into an inapplicable regulatory framework while refusing to provide clear rules or compliance pathways.

This investigation lasted for over 3 years, forcing us to waste a significant amount of time and millions of dollars. It also had personal impacts—the federal investigation is highly intrusive and stressful, to the extent that there is a saying in the legal world: "The investigation itself is the punishment." This should not be the cost of American innovation. This outcome once again proves our longstanding belief: decentralized technology and self-custodied funds are fundamentally different from the centralized intermediary systems they seek to replace.

We are pleased to see the new SEC leadership taking a more constructive attitude and look forward to working with Congress and regulatory agencies to develop rules truly applicable to DeFi—encouraging innovation, enhancing transparency and financial market access, allowing this technology to thrive in the United States rather than being forced overseas. The best era of DeFi is coming."