UNCHAINED: Gary Gensler’s Case Against Uniswap: Does the SEC Even Stand a Chance?
CoinDesk Podcast Network
CoinDesk
4.8 • 689 Ratings
🗓️ 12 April 2024
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Amanda Tuminelli dives deep into the SEC's confrontation with Uniswap, examining the implications for the entire DeFi sector.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
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 Polkadot
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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Unchained Podcast is Produced by Laura Shin Media, LLC. Distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Michele Musso and Executive Producer is Jared Schwartz.
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Transcript
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| 0:49.7 | Defy is not within the scope of the SEC. And that's why I think in this case with Uniswap, if they file |
| 0:55.7 | this action, they will lose. Uniswap Labs put out a decentralized software protocol that |
| 1:03.6 | simply does the same thing, right? It is technical infrastructure. It provides the apparatus |
| 1:08.5 | for users to direct their own transactions. Hence up, everyone. |
| 1:12.6 | In the next few weeks, we're launching a new show on the Unchained channel called Bits and Bips, |
| 1:17.6 | exploring how crypto and macro collide, one basis point at a time. |
| 1:21.6 | As you can guess, it's a show all about crypto and macro topics and where they intersect. |
| 1:26.6 | We've started with some trial |
| 1:27.9 | runs and they've been going so well, we decided to tease a few moments in this podcast. |
| 1:33.2 | In this first clip, The Bits and Bips hosts James Seifert, Ram Al-Alawalia, and Alex Kruger, |
| 1:38.7 | discuss Sam Pinkman-Fried's 25-year sentence. Yeah, I don't know. 30 would have felt right to me, I think. |
| 1:44.8 | I mean, his life is pretty much over 30 years from now. |
... |
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