Under President Trump, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has stopped investigating several cryptocurrency and decentralized finance firms, including Coinbase, OpenSea, Robinhood, and now Uniswap Labs.
Uniswap Labs, the creator of Ethereum’s most traded decentralized exchange, is no longer facing legal action from the Securities and Exchange Commission as the agency’s Crypto Task Force overhauled enforcement actions from previous leadership.
Uniswap was previously accused of facilitating unregistered securities trading on its multi-chain decentralized exchange, acting as an unregistered broker-dealer, and operating an illegal clearinghouse according to a 2024 Wells notice and lawsuit from the agency.
The decentralized finance startup denied the allegations, as did several other firms facing similar charges. “If forced to litigate, we will win,” said Uniswap chief legal officer Marvin Ammori in May.
In April, the SEC issued a Wells notice claiming that Uniswap Labs operated as an unregistered broker, operated an exchange, and issued an unregistered security
As of yesterday, that investigation has officially been closed, and the SEC is taking no enforcement action
This is a…
— Uniswap Labs
(@Uniswap) February 25, 2025
Uniswap is the latest cryptocurrency firm to be granted relief from Securities and Exchange Commission scrutiny in 2025. The agency, through its newly formed Crypto Task Force, has also dropped cases against Coinbase and Robinhood. Investigations into non-fungible token marketplace OpenSea concluded with no further action.
“They went after us despite having no clear legal basis,” said Uniswap Labs founder and CEO Hayden Adams on X, adding that the Securities and Exchange Commission attempted “to force decentralized finance into a regulatory framework that doesn’t fit.”
The decision strengthened the regulatory outlook for decentralized finance and underscored the need for clearer rules, but Adams noted the toll the investigation had taken.
This investigation took over 3 years, forcing us to waste incredible amounts of time and millions of dollars. It also had a personal impact — federal investigations are violating and stressful to the point where there is a saying among lawyers that “the investigation IS the punishment.” That shouldn’t be the price of innovation in the US.
Hayden Adams, Uniswap Labs founder and CEO
