SEC Investigating Uniswap Labs: Report

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating the developer of decentralized exchange Uniswap, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The SEC is seeking information about how investors use the exchange and how it is marketed, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The exchange’s developer, Uniswap Labs, has said that it will assist the regulator with its civil inquiry. The SEC has declined to comment, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Uniswap is the Ethereum blockchain’s largest decentralized exchange by trading volume.
While it is still unclear exactly what the SEC wants to know, the news is a sign of the regulator’s intent to wield greater oversight of decentralized finance (DeFi), something SEC Chairman Gary Gensler hinted at in recent comments.
No wrongdoing appears to have been alleged at this time.
Gensler has argued that while there may be no central entity in charge of a decentralized exchange, DeFi projects that offer incentives or digital tokens to participants could fall under the purview of SEC regulation.
“There’s still a core group of folks that are not only writing the software, like the open-source software, but they often have governance and fees,” he said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last month.
The SEC filed what it called its first case involving securities using DeFi technology last month, charging so-called DeFi lender Blockchain Credit Partners with raising $30 million through allegedly fraudulent offerings.

UPDATE (Sept. 3, 14:45 UTC): Adds Gensler comments on decentralized finance, case against Blockchain Credit Partners; additional details.

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Jamie Crawley

Jamie Crawley is a CoinDesk news reporter based in London.

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