Uniswap Labs has issued a defiant response to the SEC’s Wells discover, asserting the company’s makes an attempt to control DeFi are misguided and legally unsound.
The corporate stated in a Might 20 weblog submit that it’s assured it would come out victorious if pressured into litigation by the SEC. Uniswap Labs stated:
“We’re assured that our work is on the proper facet of historical past. The SEC shouldn’t commit its taxpayer-funded sources to bringing a case in opposition to us.”
The response comes amid a broader conflict over the way forward for monetary know-how and market regulation.
Legally unsound
Uniswap Labs criticized the SEC’s efforts to increase its jurisdiction over communications know-how and digital markets, claiming the company’s authorized arguments are weak and have been repeatedly refuted in courtroom.
The corporate stated:
“We consider the SEC ought to embrace open-source know-how that improves on outdated business and monetary programs as an alternative of making an attempt to litigate it out of existence.”
It additionally highlighted that the Uniswap Protocol aligns with the SEC’s mission to guard traders and keep honest, orderly, and environment friendly markets.
Uniswap Labs defended the Uniswap DEX as a serious market innovation that has enabled customers to transact straight with out counting on centralized intermediaries. It added that the protocol — which operates autonomously and has facilitated $2 trillion in buying and selling quantity and not using a single hack — provides clear, low-cost, and environment friendly buying and selling accessible globally 24/7.
Akin to a PDF file
In its full Wells response, Uniswap Labs rejected the SEC’s assertions that the protocol is an unregistered securities trade and that the UNI token constitutes an funding contract.
It argued that the ERC-20 token commonplace it helps is a “normal file format for all types of worth.”
The corporate said:
“A token is a file format, like a PDF. The Protocol is a normal objective pc program that anybody can use and combine, like TCP/IP.”
Uniswap Labs added that, even when the SEC is appropriate that some securities transactions happen on its protocol, the protocol is “virtually completely used for non-securities transactions” involving Ethereum, wrapped Bitcoin, stablecoins, and memecoins.
The SEC has argued that Uniswap is an trade managed by Uniswap Labs and that its interface acts as an unregistered broker-dealer.
Nonetheless, Uniswap Labs argues that the SEC’s place relies on incorrect assumptions and contends that these claims wrongly equate a digital file format with a safety.
The corporate stated the UNI token was airdropped to hundreds of customers with out the expectation of revenue from the DEX’s efficiency, which means that it doesn’t meet the standards required by the Howey Take a look at.
Uniswap assured in victory
Uniswap Labs CLO Marvin Ammori expressed confidence in Uniswap’s stance, stating on X:
“We’ve got a really sturdy case. If pressured to litigate, we are going to win.”
He asserted that Uniswap Labs’ case is “so sturdy that the SEC is attempting to alter the legislation.” Along with describing the file codecs argument, Amorri stated the SEC is working to redefine “trade” and different phrases past their present that means.
He stated that courts have dismissed related arguments in opposition to Coinbase by discovering that self-custodial wallets don’t meet the necessities to be a dealer.
Uniswap Labs has employed attorneys who’ve gained two high-profile instances, together with former SEC enforcement head Andrew Ceresney and former US Solicitor Normal Don Verrilli.
The 2 attorneys represented Ripple and Grayscale in opposition to the SEC, respectively.
The SEC issued a Wells discover to Uniswap Labs on April 10, which indicated that the SEC’s Enforcement Division supposed to advocate a lawsuit in opposition to the agency.
In current weeks, the SEC has additionally filed Wells notices in opposition to the Ethereum growth agency Consensys and the retail brokerage Robinhood.
The SEC has not but initiated the anticipated lawsuits in opposition to the three companies. Consensys alone has responded with a preemptive lawsuit.
