SEC drops Uniswap Labs investigation as agency continues crypto-friendly push

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped its investigations into Uniswap Labs, according to a blog post released by the firm on Tuesday. The move comes just days after the agency ended similar probes into other major players in the crypto industry.

"The Securities and Exchange Commission has concluded its investigation into Uniswap and doesn't plan to move forward with any enforcement actions," sources told The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news.

Last week, crypto exchange Coinbase said the SEC dropped its lawsuit against the exchange while NFT marketplace OpenSea said the SEC ended its investigation after receiving a Wells Notice last year. On Monday, Robinhood said the SEC was closing its investigation into the crypto trading platform without enforcement action.

Uniswap, the creator of the world's largest decentralized crypto exchange, said it received a Wells notice from the SEC last April. The agency alleged the Uniswap DEX acts as Uniswap Labs’ unregistered securities exchange and unregistered securities broker-dealer, The Block reported at the time.

A Wells Notice is a formal letter the agency sends indicating it is considering a lawsuit against a firm and offering an opportunity to respond.

"We're confident that our work is on the right side of history," Uniswap founder Hayden Adams responded then. "The SEC should not devote its taxpayer-funded resources to bringing a case against us."

The recent about-face is the latest sign that the SEC, under the new stewardship of Acting Chairperson Mark T. Uyeda, is working to unravel the dozens of enforcement actions the agency has been building against the crypto industry under the previous Biden administration.

Notably, Uyeda appointed fellow Republican Commissioner Hester Peirce to lead a "crypto task force" that has reportedly been engaging with several firms previously targeted by the SEC and is working with industry representatives to write crypto-specific rules.

Peirce was one of the many dissenting voices who spoke out against the SEC's targeting of decentralized exchanges and protocols.

Amanda Tuminelli, chief legal officer at the DeFi Education Fund, said the SEC's move to drop the investigation was noteworthy.

"It’s notable that the SEC is formally and publicly closing their investigation into Uniswap Labs," Tuminelli said in an emailed statement. "It gives DeFi companies additional comfort to pivot from defending to embracing our right to build decentralized tech."