SEC warns Uniswap of lawsuit - UNI collapses

Yesterday, April 10, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sent a so-called Wells Notice to the decentralized exchange Uniswap. The notice is usually one of the last steps before the regulator formally files charges.

Uniswap CLO Marvin Ammori is disappointed and writes: "It's another abuse of power - which is no surprise at this SEC." UNI founder Hayden Adams is "ready to fight."

According to inside information from the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. authority has been investigating Uniswap Labs, the main developer of the decentralized crypto exchange, since 2021.

It is unclear what allegations the SEC intends to bring against Uniswap in the potential lawsuit. In response to a question from Fortune Crypto, a spokesperson said, "The SEC does not comment on whether or not there is a potential investigation."

One possible attack vector could be the recently introduced "dividend" model on Uniswap, where users presumably make money from transaction fees. Such dividend payments usually occur with stocks and are subject to SEC oversight abroad.

The platform's own token (UNI) has fallen nearly 16 percent over the past 24 hours and is trading at USD 9.24 at the time of writing.