365Crypto
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged Uniswap Labs, a decentralized exchange (DEX) developer, with illegally offering leveraged cryptocurrency trading to U.S. retail investors. Uniswap Labs agreed to settle by paying a $175,000 civil penalty and ceasing violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).
One CFTC commissioner, Summer Mersinger, criticized the action as “regulation by enforcement” and called for clearer guidelines for DeFi protocols. Another commissioner, Caroline Pham, also dissented, arguing that the CFTC should engage in rulemaking rather than enforcing broad interpretations through administrative orders.
The case involved tokens like the BTC2x and ETH2x Flexible Leverage Index tokens, which were part of a limited number of leveraged products on Uniswap, falling under the CFTC’s jurisdiction. The SEC has also scrutinized Uniswap, claiming it operates as an unregistered securities exchange. Despite these challenges, Uniswap remains a major DeFi protocol with over $4.3 billion in total value locked as of Sept. 4.
