The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as part of its ongoing enforcement focus in the DeFi space, has taken enforcement action against Universal Navigation Inc., which operates as Uniswap Labs, for violating the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).
As per the press release, Uniswap Labs, a Delaware-based company, was found to have illegally offered leveraged or margined retail commodity transactions in digital assets through its decentralized trading protocol. The CFTC’s order requires Uniswap Labs to pay a $175,000 civil monetary penalty and mandates that the company cease further violations of the CEA. The enforcement action demonstrates the CFTC’s continued emphasis on regulating the decentralized finance (DeFi) and digital asset industries.
The CFTC’s Director of Enforcement, Ian McGinley, said that as digital asset platforms develop further, DeFi operators should take note of this case and make sure they are complying with the law. Uniswap Labs developed and deployed a blockchain-based protocol on the Ethereum network, allowing non-eligible Contract Participants and institutional users in the U.S. and abroad to trade digital assets through liquidity pools of paired assets.
Uniswap Labs created and maintained a web interface for its protocol, allowing users to trade in numerous liquidity pools, including leveraged tokens tied to assets like Ether and Bitcoin. The CFTC found these leveraged tokens to be margined commodity transactions, which, without actual delivery within 28 days, should only be offered on a CFTC-registered contract market, which Uniswap Labs was not.
Due to Uniswap Labs’ significant assistance during the inquiry, which led to a lower fine, the CFTC acknowledged this collaboration. The CFTC staff members Devin Cain, K. Brent Tomer, Lenel Hickson, Jr., and Manal M. Sultan oversaw the enforcement action. The CFTC also reminded the public to verify a company’s registration status with the CFTC before engaging in transactions and encouraged reporting of suspicious activities.
