United States of America: Issued court ruling in civil lawsuit against Uniswap for allegedly violating U.S. securities laws as a result of crypto scams (Class action v Uniswap)

On 29 August 2023, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York issued its court ruling in the civil lawsuit against Uniswap for allegedly violating U.S. securities laws as a result of crypto scams. The court examined whether the creators and investors in the Uniswap Protocol, a decentralised cryptocurrency exchange, are subject to federal securities laws. The case involved a putative securities class action against various parties, including Uniswap Labs. The plaintiffs claimed they suffered losses from investing in fraudulent tokens traded on the Protocol, and that Uniswap should be held liable under securities laws. The court dismissed the complaint because, as a result of the decentralised nature of the Protocol, the identities of the fraudsters are unknown and, although the complainants suffered identifiable injuries, there were no identifiable defendants.