Speculating on the SEC's Enforcement Action Against Uniswap

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On Wednesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Wells notice to Uniswap Labs, the team behind the prominent decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap, signaling a forthcoming enforcement action.

Amanda Tuminelli, Chief Legal Officer at the DeFi Education Fund, joined Unchained to unpack what the case could mean for Uniswap and the overall decentralized finance (DeFi) industry.

Amanda also talks about the DeFi Education Fund's recent lawsuit against the SEC over its airdrop policies and the industry’s need for a proactive counteroffensive approach in dealing with the SEC.

Show highlights:

• Why Amanda thinks that the SEC is going to take a “kitchen sink approach” to their charges
• How the SEC could make a case that some of the tokens traded via Uniswap are securities
• What the next steps are in the case, with a lawsuit possibly coming soon
• Whether there’s an inconsistency between the SEC’s position and Judge Failla’s rejection of the motion to dismiss the Coinbase lawsuit
• How the different components of Uniswap make it hard to prove that Uniswap Labs is responsible for everything that happens on the protocol
• Why the DeFi Education Fund recently filed a lawsuit against the SEC
• Why Amanda believes in a “proactive counteroffensive strategy” with the SEC
• How Amanda would like legislation to be implemented in the U.S.
• Why the Tornado Cash developers are not liable for the actions of third parties such as North Korean hackers, according to Amanda
• Why Amanda thinks Uniswap will ultimately win against the SEC

Thank you to our sponsors!

• iTrustCapital
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Guest

• Amanda Tuminelli, Chief Legal Officer at DeFi Education Fund
• Previous appearance on Unchained: Is This the End of DeFi? Why the US Government Is Going After Tornado Cash
• You’ve got a friend in me: How amicus briefs are helping the crypto industry win over the courts, Amanda’s op-ed for Fortune

Links

Wells Notice

• Unchained: SEC Puts DeFi in Its Sights With Potential Uniswap Suit
• Unchained: UNI Drops 16% as SEC Targets Uniswap Labs
• Uniswap Blog Post on the Wells notice
• Marvin Ammori Thread on Wells notice

Other cases:

• Fortune: Don't blame Uniswap for crypto scams, judge rules—and she's right
• The Block: Three crypto advocacy groups file amicus briefs in Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm's case
• The DeFiant: SEC Faces Lawsuit Seeking To Exempt Airdrops From Securities Classification
• Unchained: Court Rejects Coinbase's Bid to Dismiss SEC Charges Against It

Social media commentary:

• Paul Grewal’s tweet on the potential inconsistencies with the Coinbase case.
• Gabriel Shapiro’s tweet on how Uniswap AMM smart contracts are not run by the Uniswap company

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