We are talking about a lawsuit filed last year by investor Nessa Risley (Nessa Risley) and several users of Uniswap, accusing the platform of violating securities laws. The plaintiffs alleged that Uniswap acted as an unregistered broker and dealer, facilitated illegal securities trading, and allowed token issuers to deceive investors. In particular, crypto assets Matrix Samurai (MXS), Rocket Bunny (BUNNY) and Alphawolf Finance (AWF) appeared in the lawsuit.
In dismissing the lawsuit, Judge Katherine Polk Failla explained that the anonymity of token issuers complicates the case. If the cryptocurrency space were more transparent, plaintiffs could sue directly against the creators of the fraudulent tokens. However, in the absence of information about the issuers, plaintiffs are left to argue that these transactions were facilitated by Uniswap.
The fact that Uniswap charges a fee for transactions with crypto assets is not a sufficient basis for holding the platform legally liable. The issues raised by the plaintiffs should be decided by lawmakers in Congress, not by arbitrary application of existing federal securities laws to this particular case, the judge explained.
The court decision also states that smart contracts, on the basis of which exchange operations are carried out, differ from token contracts developed by issuers. The judge acknowledged the lack of precedent for DeFi protocols, noting that the legal environment for such platforms is still evolving. The court concluded that Uniswap’s core smart contracts do not inherently violate the law.
As a reminder, Uniswap recently fired an employee for FRENS memcoin fraud. He embezzled over $25,000 using a rug pull scheme.
Source: Bits
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