The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Wells warning to the decentralized finance (DeFi) website Uniswap. In other words, the SEC will be paying more attention to the site. As of April 10, Uniswap put out the notice. It is the first step toward possible legal action by the SEC’s legal Division. It shows that the government is doing its best to keep the growing Bitcoin market under control.
SEC’s Gary Gensler Pushes for Crypto Regulation in the “Wild West
When it comes to regulating cryptocurrencies, Chair Gary Gensler has been very clear. He discuss about the business a lot as the “Wild West” and stresses how important it is to follow the rules already in place. Gensler’s larger goal is to take control of digital assets, especially those made on blockchain networks, and this new development fits into that plan.
Hayden Adams, the founder and CEO of Uniswap, was angry and sad when he saw the SEC’s warning. He also reiterated his commitment to protecting the platform from legal threats. Adams said on X that he was ready to fight the Securities and Exchange Commission and look out for Uniswap’s best interests.
In a blog post detailing the SEC’s claims, Uniswap denied that most cryptocurrencies are financial contracts. The decentralized exchange (DEX) said that most of the tokens moved are stablecoins, utility tokens, or commodities like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). They used Coinbase as an industry example. Additionally, Uniswap emphasized how its products could change things and were in line with the law.
DefiLlama data shows that Uniswap holds over $6.2 billion in value locked across 16 blockchains, which shows its importance in the DeFi world. CoinGecko’s data shows that Uniswap is even more dominant, with 22.5% of all cryptocurrency trade volume going through the DEX.
The native UNI coin dropped by over 9% as soon as the SEC’s Wells warning became public. According to CoinMarketCap, it is now trading at about $10.
Even though Uniswap is getting ready for possible government action, no one knows what will happen. What the SEC does will probably decide the future of the Bitcoin business.
