Verify a decision

{"actor":"system:backfill","investigation_id":"d498da9e-32f7-46da-867f-12cc249d942d","kind":"publish","page_slug":"uniswap","published_at":"2026-05-14T06:03:05.046Z","sequence_num":1,"snapshot":{"content_type":"investigation","entity_name":"Uniswap","sections":[{"content":"Uniswap is an open-source, decentralized exchange protocol operating primarily on Ethereum and a growing number of EVM-compatible chains. It was created on November 2, 2018 by Hayden Adams, a former mechanical engineer at Siemens who was inspired by a blog post from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. The commercial entity behind the interface and ongoing development is Uniswap Labs (Universal Navigation Inc.), a Delaware-incorporated company headquartered in New York City. The protocol uses an automated market maker (AMM) design based on a constant-product formula, replacing traditional order-book markets with liquidity pools funded by external liquidity providers (LPs). Uniswap v3, launched in May 2021, introduced concentrated liquidity — allowing LPs to allocate capital within specific price ranges. Uniswap v4, released January 31, 2025, introduced 'hooks' (customizable plugins for liquidity pools), a singleton contract architecture reducing pool creation costs by up to 99.99%, and native ETH support. As of 2024, Uniswap processed between 50% and 65% of weekly DEX volume globally and ranked as the second-largest DEX and seventh-largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume. Uniswap also launched Unichain in January 2025, a proprietary Ethereum Layer 2 network built on the Optimism Superchain using the OP Stack, featuring 250ms block times.","heading":"Protocol Overview and Background","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Uniswap - Wikipedia","type":"other","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniswap"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap v4 Is Here – Uniswap Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.uniswap.org/uniswap-v4-is-here"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Uniswap TVL, Fees, Revenue and Volume – DeFiLlama","type":"on_chain","url":"https://defillama.com/protocol/uniswap"}]},{"content":"Uniswap Labs was founded by Hayden Adams in 2018, who serves as CEO. The company raised an $11 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz and subsequently completed a $165 million Series B in October 2022, led by Polychain Capital, at a reported valuation of $1.66 billion. Other Series B participants included prior investors Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, SV Angel, and Variant. The Uniswap Foundation, a separate non-profit entity, reported $177 million in funding as of March 2025 to support ecosystem grants and governance. The UNI governance token was introduced in September 2020 and airdropped to historical users. Token holders can propose and vote on protocol changes. In November 2025, Uniswap Labs and the Uniswap Foundation jointly proposed the 'UNIfication' governance package, which passed in December 2025 with 99.9% approval (125 million tokens in favor). UNIfication activated a protocol fee switch directing trading fees toward a programmatic token burn, approved the destruction of 100 million UNI tokens from the treasury (worth approximately $590 million at the time), and eliminated Uniswap Labs interface fees effective December 27, 2025. Uniswap Labs also established Uniswap Labs Ventures in 2024 as a separate venture capital vehicle to invest in web3 projects.","heading":"Founding Team, Investors, and Governance","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Crypto Exchange Uniswap Labs Raises $165M in Polychain Capital-Led Round – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/10/13/crypto-exchange-uniswap-labs-raises-165m-in-polychain-capital-led-round"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Labs Valued at $1.66 Billion in $165 Million New Funding – TechCrunch","type":"news_article","url":"https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/13/uniswap-labs-raises-165-million-in-new-funding/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"UNIfication – Uniswap Governance Proposal","type":"official","url":"https://blog.uniswap.org/unification"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap's UNI Token Burn, Protocol Fee 'UNIfication' Proposal Backed Overwhelmingly by Voters – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/12/26/uniswap-s-token-burn-protocol-fee-proposal-backed-overwhelmingly-by-voters"}]},{"content":"In April 2024, Uniswap Labs disclosed that it had received a Wells notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission — a formal notification that the SEC staff intended to recommend an enforcement action. The SEC's alleged basis included that the Uniswap protocol operated as an unregistered securities exchange, that the Uniswap interface and wallet functioned as unregistered securities brokers, and that the UNI token and certain liquidity provider (LP) tokens constituted unregistered securities. Uniswap Labs responded publicly in May 2024, filing a Wells response arguing that the protocol does not meet the statutory definition of an exchange, that the tokens it facilitates are not securities, and characterizing the protocol as 'passive technology' operated by autonomous smart contracts. In February 2025, following the departure of SEC Chair Gary Gensler and a broader agency pivot on crypto enforcement under Acting Chair Mark Uyeda and Commissioner Hester Peirce, the SEC formally closed its investigation with no enforcement action taken. Uniswap founder Hayden Adams stated publicly that the three-year investigation had cost Uniswap Labs 'incredible amounts of time and millions of dollars.' No charges were ever filed.","heading":"SEC Wells Notice and Investigation (April 2024 – February 2025)","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"DeFi Exchange Uniswap Receives Enforcement Notice From the SEC – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/04/10/defi-exchange-uniswap-receives-enforcement-notice-from-the-sec"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Labs Urges SEC to Drop Pending Enforcement Action in Wells Response – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/05/21/uniswap-labs-urges-sec-to-drop-pending-enforcement-action-in-wells-response"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Wells Notice Response (PDF) – Uniswap Labs","type":"official","url":"https://blog.uniswap.org/wells-notice-response.pdf"},{"credibility":1,"name":"SEC Drops Investigation Into Uniswap, Will Not File Enforcement Action – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/25/sec-drops-investigation-into-uniswap-will-not-file-enforcement-action"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Says the SEC Closes Probe of Decentralized Finance Firm – Bloomberg","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-25/uniswap-says-the-sec-closes-probe-of-decentralized-finance-firm"},{"credibility":1,"name":"A Win for DeFi – SEC Closes Investigation into Uniswap Labs (Uniswap Blog)","type":"official","url":"https://blog.uniswap.org/a-win-for-defi"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Fights Back Against SEC as the Ethereum Crackdown Continues – CNBC","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/21/uniswap-fights-back-against-sec-as-the-ethereum-crackdown-continues.html"}]},{"content":"On September 4, 2024, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an administrative order against Universal Navigation Inc. d/b/a Uniswap Labs finding that the company illegally offered leveraged or margined retail commodity transactions in digital assets. Specifically, the CFTC determined that Uniswap's protocol facilitated trading in leveraged tokens providing exposure to assets including Ether and Bitcoin without the required registration as a Commodity Exchange Act-designated contract market. The agency stated that approximately $21.5 million in such leveraged transactions flowed through the platform. Uniswap Labs was ordered to pay a $175,000 civil monetary penalty and to cease and desist from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act. The CFTC cited the company's 'substantial cooperation' with the investigation as a mitigating factor that reduced the penalty. Two CFTC Commissioners — Summer K. Mersinger and Caroline D. Pham — filed dissenting opinions, with Mersinger characterizing the action as 'regulation through enforcement' with a 'de minimis penalty that bears little relationship to the conduct alleged.'","heading":"CFTC Enforcement Action and $175,000 Penalty (September 2024)","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"CFTC Issues Order Against Uniswap Labs for Offering Illegal Digital Asset Derivatives Trading – CFTC.gov","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8961-24"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Labs Settles CFTC Charges Over 'Illegal' Margin Products – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/09/04/uniswap-labs-settles-cftc-charges-over-illegal-margin-products"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Uniswap Hit With $175,000 CFTC Fine, SEC Probe Still Pending – CCN","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/uniswap-cftc-fine-sec-probe/"}]},{"content":"In April 2022, a group of plaintiffs led by Nessa Risley filed a proposed class action in the Southern District of New York against Uniswap Labs, CEO Hayden Adams, and venture capital backers including Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, and Union Square Ventures. The complaint alleged that the defendants aided and abetted fraud by token issuers who listed scam tokens — including pump-and-dump and rug-pull schemes — on the Uniswap protocol. Plaintiffs claimed undisclosed losses from purchasing tokens through the Uniswap interface that were later revealed to be fraudulent. District Court Judge Katherine Polk Failla initially dismissed federal claims in 2023. On February 26, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reinstated certain state law claims, and plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint in May 2025 alleging that Uniswap Labs and Adams aided and abetted fraud by allowing the Uniswap interface to serve as access to the protocol. On March 3, 2026, Judge Failla dismissed all remaining claims with prejudice, concluding that because Uniswap is a decentralized, permissionless protocol operated by autonomous smart contracts, the developers and investors cannot be held liable for third-party misuse of the platform. The dismissal with prejudice closed the case at the district court level. Legal commentators described the ruling as a precedent-setting decision for DeFi developer liability under U.S. law.","heading":"Scam Token Class Action Lawsuit (2022–2026)","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"U.S. Judge Dismisses Uniswap Scam Token Class Action With Prejudice – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/03/03/scam-token-case-against-uniswap-dismissed-with-prejudice-by-u-s-district-judge-in-nyc"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Paradigm, Andreessen Horowitz, and Union Square Ventures Sued Over Alleged 'Rampant Fraud' on Uniswap Exchange – Fortune","type":"news_article","url":"https://fortune.com/2022/04/11/paradigm-andreessen-union-square-ventures-sued-alleged-fraud-on-uniswap/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Labs Crypto Exchange Spared From 'Scam Token' Lawsuit – Bloomberg Law","type":"news_article","url":"https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/uniswap-labs-crypto-exchange-spared-from-scam-token-lawsuit"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Uniswap Just Changed Crypto Law — And It Could Protect Open-Source Developers Industry-Wide – CCN","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/uniswap-changed-crypto-law-opensource/"}]},{"content":"On July 11, 2022, attackers conducted a large-scale phishing campaign targeting Uniswap v3 liquidity providers. The attackers created and airdropped a fraudulent ERC-20 token to approximately 73,399 wallets that held UNI tokens, spending roughly 8.5 ETH in transaction fees. The airdrop lured recipients to connect their wallets to a phishing site offering 400 UNI tokens (approximately $2,200 at the time). Upon connection, users were prompted to sign a disguised 'setApprovalForAll' transaction that granted the attacker full control over the victim's Uniswap v3 LP token positions. The attacker redeemed LP positions for approximately 7,573 ETH, with loss estimates ranging from $3.5 million to $8 million across various analyses. Uniswap Labs confirmed publicly that the Uniswap protocol itself was not compromised — the attack exploited user behavior and off-protocol infrastructure, not a smart contract vulnerability. The incident is classified as a social engineering/phishing attack rather than a protocol exploit.","heading":"Security Incidents: Phishing Attack (July 2022)","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"$8 Million Stolen in a Uniswap Phishing Attack – Check Point Research","type":"research","url":"https://blog.checkpoint.com/2022/07/12/8-million-dollars-stolen-in-a-uniswap-phishing-attack/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap User Loses $8M Worth of Ether in Phishing Attack – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/07/12/uniswap-user-loses-8m-worth-of-ether-in-phishing-attack"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Liquidity Provider Hacked for $8 Million in Phishing Attack – The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/157021/uniswap-liquidity-provider-hacked-for-8-million-in-phishing-attack"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Uniswap Phishing Incident CertiK Analysis Report – CertiK","type":"research","url":"https://certik.medium.com/uniswap-phishing-incident-certik-analysis-report-ef45af2b9d37"}]},{"content":"When Uniswap launched v3 in May 2021, it released the code under a Business Source License (BSL) 1.1 rather than an open-source license, representing a notable departure from the open-source ethos of DeFi. Under the BSL, commercial use of the v3 code was restricted for up to two years. This decision was a direct response to the 2020 'vampire attack' by SushiSwap, in which a pseudonymous developer forked Uniswap's v2 codebase to create a competing DEX. The Uniswap community and external developers criticized the licensing change as inconsistent with decentralization principles and incompatible with permissionless innovation. On April 1, 2023, the BSL expired and the v3 codebase converted to a GNU General Public License (GPL), making it freely forkable. The controversy was resolved without lasting harm to the protocol but remains cited as an example of tension between open-source norms and commercial IP protection in DeFi.","heading":"v3 Business Source License Controversy (2021–2023)","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap V3 Introduces New License to Spoil Future SUSHIs – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2021/03/23/uniswap-v3-introduces-new-license-to-spoil-future-sushis"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Uniswap v3 Code Free to Fork as BSL Expires – CoinTelegraph","type":"news_article","url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/uniswap-v3-code-free-to-fork-as-bsl-expires"},{"credibility":1,"name":"FAQ on Uniswap v3's Business Source License – Uniswap Foundation","type":"official","url":"https://uniswapfoundation.mirror.xyz/lr8hUW5FFYWmvsm9ZmO6bLdLAaAx5EAnFEbJG_OTd8g"}]},{"content":"Beginning in 2023, Uniswap Labs introduced a proprietary interface fee charged to users transacting through the official Uniswap web interface and wallet — a fee distinct from LP fees embedded in the protocol itself. In 2024, Uniswap Labs raised its interface fee to 0.25% on most token pairs (up from 0.1%), exempting stablecoin-to-stablecoin and ETH/WETH pairs. Users routing trades through third-party aggregators were not subject to this fee. Uniswap Labs reported approximately $52.75 million in interface fee revenue in the six-month period from April through September 2024. The fees accrued solely to Uniswap Labs with no distribution to UNI token holders or liquidity providers during this period, a practice that generated governance debate within the Uniswap DAO. This structure changed following the December 2025 UNIfication governance vote: Uniswap Labs eliminated all interface, wallet, and API fees effective December 27, 2025, and the protocol's fee switch was activated to route trading fees toward token burns benefiting UNI holders.","heading":"Interface Fee Model and Revenue Practices (2023–2025)","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Labs Cumulative Front-End Revenue Surpasses $50 Million – The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/310869/uniswaps-cumulative-front-end-revenue-surpasses-50-million"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Fee Increase Generated $53 Million Revenue Amid Legal Scrutiny – Decrypt","type":"news_article","url":"https://decrypt.co/284038/uniswap-fee-increase-generated-53-million-revenue-amid-legal-scrutiny"},{"credibility":1,"name":"What Are Uniswap Labs' Fees? – Uniswap Labs Support","type":"official","url":"https://support.uniswap.org/hc/en-us/articles/20131678274957-What-are-Uniswap-Labs-fees"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Uniswap Finally Turns the Fee Switch – Blockworks","type":"news_article","url":"https://blockworks.co/news/uniswap-fee-switch"}]},{"content":"The Uniswap protocol has not suffered a direct smart contract exploit since its launch. The v4 release in January 2025 followed nine independent audits, a $15.5 million bug bounty program, and what was described as the largest security competition in DeFi history at the time. The introduction of 'hooks' in v4 has, however, expanded the potential attack surface: hooks are developer-written plugins that can modify pool behavior, and a misconfigured or malicious hook can expose liquidity to exploitation — as occurred in the March 2025 Cork Protocol exploit ($12 million lost) where a protocol incorrectly modified v4 hook permissions. The core Uniswap protocol itself was not implicated in the Cork loss. Users interacting with Uniswap remain exposed to general DeFi risks including sandwich attacks (front-running), impermanent loss for LPs, and phishing attacks targeting the interface layer.","heading":"Protocol Security Posture and Smart Contract Risk","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Auditing Uniswap V4 Hooks: Risks, Exploits, and Secure Implementation – Hacken","type":"research","url":"https://hacken.io/discover/auditing-uniswap-v4-hooks/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Uniswap v4 Hooks Security Deep Dive – Cyfrin","type":"research","url":"https://www.cyfrin.io/blog/uniswap-v4-hooks-security-deep-dive"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Security – Uniswap Docs","type":"official","url":"https://docs.uniswap.org/contracts/v2/concepts/advanced-topics/security"}]}],"sources_used":[{"credibility":1,"name":"CFTC Issues Order Against Uniswap Labs for Offering Illegal Digital Asset Derivatives Trading – CFTC.gov","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8961-24"},{"credibility":1,"name":"DeFi Exchange Uniswap Receives Enforcement Notice From the SEC – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/04/10/defi-exchange-uniswap-receives-enforcement-notice-from-the-sec"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Labs Urges SEC to Drop Pending Enforcement Action – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/05/21/uniswap-labs-urges-sec-to-drop-pending-enforcement-action-in-wells-response"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Wells Notice Response (PDF) – Uniswap Labs","type":"official","url":"https://blog.uniswap.org/wells-notice-response.pdf"},{"credibility":1,"name":"SEC Drops Investigation Into Uniswap, Will Not File Enforcement Action – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/25/sec-drops-investigation-into-uniswap-will-not-file-enforcement-action"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Says the SEC Closes Probe of Decentralized Finance Firm – Bloomberg","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-25/uniswap-says-the-sec-closes-probe-of-decentralized-finance-firm"},{"credibility":1,"name":"A Win for DeFi — SEC Closes Investigation into Uniswap Labs – Uniswap Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.uniswap.org/a-win-for-defi"},{"credibility":1,"name":"U.S. Judge Dismisses Uniswap Scam Token Class Action With Prejudice – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/03/03/scam-token-case-against-uniswap-dismissed-with-prejudice-by-u-s-district-judge-in-nyc"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Paradigm, Andreessen Horowitz, and Union Square Ventures Sued Over Alleged 'Rampant Fraud' on Uniswap Exchange – Fortune","type":"news_article","url":"https://fortune.com/2022/04/11/paradigm-andreessen-union-square-ventures-sued-alleged-fraud-on-uniswap/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Labs Settles CFTC Charges Over 'Illegal' Margin Products – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/09/04/uniswap-labs-settles-cftc-charges-over-illegal-margin-products"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Crypto Exchange Uniswap Labs Raises $165M in Polychain Capital-Led Round – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/10/13/crypto-exchange-uniswap-labs-raises-165m-in-polychain-capital-led-round"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Labs Valued at $1.66 Billion in $165M New Funding – TechCrunch","type":"news_article","url":"https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/13/uniswap-labs-raises-165-million-in-new-funding/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap User Loses $8M Worth of Ether in Phishing Attack – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/07/12/uniswap-user-loses-8m-worth-of-ether-in-phishing-attack"},{"credibility":2,"name":"$8 Million Stolen in a Uniswap Phishing Attack – Check Point Research","type":"research","url":"https://blog.checkpoint.com/2022/07/12/8-million-dollars-stolen-in-a-uniswap-phishing-attack/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Liquidity Provider Hacked for $8M in Phishing Attack – The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/157021/uniswap-liquidity-provider-hacked-for-8-million-in-phishing-attack"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap V3 Introduces New License to Spoil Future SUSHIs – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2021/03/23/uniswap-v3-introduces-new-license-to-spoil-future-sushis"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Uniswap v3 Code Free to Fork as BSL Expires – CoinTelegraph","type":"news_article","url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/uniswap-v3-code-free-to-fork-as-bsl-expires"},{"credibility":1,"name":"UNIfication Governance Proposal – Uniswap Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.uniswap.org/unification"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap's UNI Token Burn, Protocol Fee 'UNIfication' Proposal Backed Overwhelmingly by Voters – CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/12/26/uniswap-s-token-burn-protocol-fee-proposal-backed-overwhelmingly-by-voters"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Labs Cumulative Front-End Revenue Surpasses $50 Million – The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/310869/uniswaps-cumulative-front-end-revenue-surpasses-50-million"},{"credibility":1,"name":"SEC Moves to Sue Uniswap in Bid to Hobble Fast-Growing DeFi Sector – Fortune","type":"news_article","url":"https://fortune.com/crypto/2024/04/10/sec-moves-to-sue-uniswap-in-bid-to-hobble-fast-growing-defi-sector/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap Warns of Potential Enforcement Action From SEC – Axios","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.axios.com/2024/04/11/uniswap-sec-enforcement-action-wells-notice"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Uniswap v4 Is Here – Uniswap Blog","type":"official","url":"https://blog.uniswap.org/uniswap-v4-is-here"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Uniswap TVL, Fees, Revenue and Volume – DeFiLlama","type":"on_chain","url":"https://defillama.com/protocol/uniswap"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Uniswap – Wikipedia","type":"other","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniswap"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Auditing Uniswap V4 Hooks: Risks, Exploits, and Secure Implementation – Hacken","type":"research","url":"https://hacken.io/discover/auditing-uniswap-v4-hooks/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Bloomberg Law: Uniswap Labs Crypto Exchange Spared From 'Scam Token' Lawsuit","type":"news_article","url":"https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/uniswap-labs-crypto-exchange-spared-from-scam-token-lawsuit"},{"credibility":1,"name":"CNBC: Uniswap Fights Back Against SEC as the Ethereum Crackdown Continues","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/21/uniswap-fights-back-against-sec-as-the-ethereum-crackdown-continues.html"}],"summary":"Uniswap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) protocol built on Ethereum, founded in November 2018 by Hayden Adams and operated commercially by Uniswap Labs. It is the largest DEX by trading volume globally, using an automated market maker (AMM) model. The protocol has faced significant regulatory scrutiny — including an SEC Wells notice in April 2024 (closed without action in February 2025), a CFTC settlement resulting in a $175,000 penalty in September 2024, and a multi-year scam-token class action dismissed with prejudice in March 2026 — while remaining operationally active and technologically mature through its v4 release.","timeline":[{"date":"2018-11-02","event":"Hayden Adams deploys the first Uniswap protocol (v1) on Ethereum mainnet.","source":"Wikipedia / Uniswap","source_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniswap"},{"date":"2020-09-01","event":"UNI governance token launched and retroactively airdropped to historical users.","source":"Uniswap Blog","source_url":"https://blog.uniswap.org/"},{"date":"2021-03-23","event":"Uniswap v3 announced with Business Source License (BSL) 1.1, restricting commercial forks for two years.","source":"CoinDesk","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2021/03/23/uniswap-v3-introduces-new-license-to-spoil-future-sushis"},{"date":"2021-05-05","event":"Uniswap v3 launches on Ethereum mainnet with concentrated liquidity.","source":"Wikipedia / Uniswap","source_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniswap"},{"date":"2022-04-11","event":"Class action lawsuit filed by Nessa Risley et al. against Uniswap Labs, Hayden Adams, and VC backers over scam tokens traded on the protocol.","source":"Fortune","source_url":"https://fortune.com/2022/04/11/paradigm-andreessen-union-square-ventures-sued-alleged-fraud-on-uniswap/"},{"date":"2022-07-11","event":"Phishing attack targeting Uniswap v3 LPs drains approximately $3.5–$8 million in ETH; protocol smart contracts not compromised.","source":"CoinDesk","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/07/12/uniswap-user-loses-8m-worth-of-ether-in-phishing-attack"},{"date":"2022-10-13","event":"Uniswap Labs raises $165 million Series B led by Polychain Capital at a $1.66 billion valuation.","source":"CoinDesk","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/10/13/crypto-exchange-uniswap-labs-raises-165m-in-polychain-capital-led-round"},{"date":"2023-04-01","event":"Uniswap v3 Business Source License expires; code converts to GPL and becomes freely forkable.","source":"CoinTelegraph","source_url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/uniswap-v3-code-free-to-fork-as-bsl-expires"},{"date":"2024-04-10","event":"Uniswap Labs publicly discloses receipt of an SEC Wells notice alleging operation as an unregistered exchange and broker and issuance of unregistered securities.","source":"CoinDesk","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/04/10/defi-exchange-uniswap-receives-enforcement-notice-from-the-sec"},{"date":"2024-05-21","event":"Uniswap Labs files formal Wells response urging the SEC to drop its pending enforcement action.","source":"CoinDesk","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/05/21/uniswap-labs-urges-sec-to-drop-pending-enforcement-action-in-wells-response"},{"date":"2024-09-04","event":"CFTC issues order against Uniswap Labs for illegally offering leveraged retail commodity transactions; $175,000 civil penalty and cease-and-desist imposed.","source":"CFTC.gov","source_url":"https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8961-24"},{"date":"2025-01-31","event":"Uniswap v4 launches on Ethereum and multiple EVM chains; Unichain Layer 2 goes live concurrently.","source":"Uniswap Blog","source_url":"https://blog.uniswap.org/uniswap-v4-is-here"},{"date":"2025-02-25","event":"SEC formally closes its investigation into Uniswap Labs with no enforcement action filed.","source":"CoinDesk","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/25/sec-drops-investigation-into-uniswap-will-not-file-enforcement-action"},{"date":"2025-02-26","event":"Second Circuit Court of Appeals reinstates state law claims in the scam token class action.","source":"Bloomberg Law","source_url":"https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/uniswap-labs-crypto-exchange-spared-from-scam-token-lawsuit"},{"date":"2025-12-26","event":"Uniswap governance passes UNIfication proposal with 99.9% approval, activating protocol fee switch and approving 100 million UNI token burn.","source":"CoinDesk","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/12/26/uniswap-s-token-burn-protocol-fee-proposal-backed-overwhelmingly-by-voters"},{"date":"2025-12-27","event":"Uniswap Labs eliminates all interface, wallet, and API fees following the UNIfication governance vote.","source":"Uniswap Blog","source_url":"https://blog.uniswap.org/unification"},{"date":"2026-03-03","event":"Judge Katherine Polk Failla dismisses all remaining claims in scam token class action with prejudice, closing the case at the district court level.","source":"CoinDesk","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/03/03/scam-token-case-against-uniswap-dismissed-with-prejudice-by-u-s-district-judge-in-nyc"}]},"v":1}