A court ruling declining to hold Uniswap liable for alleged scams on its platform is a shield for decentralized crypto exchanges, and offers a preview for Coinbase Global Inc.’s closely watched fight with securities regulators.
Uniswap was sued by crypto users seeking to hold the exchange responsible after they lost money buying what they called “scam tokens” on the platform. It was one of the first efforts to apply US securities laws to a decentralized exchange, attorneys said.
Dismissing the suit last week, Judge Katherine Polk Failla in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York said the exchange wasn’t liable under existing law for users’ alleged losses.
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More broadly, the ruling provides a sense of Failla’s thinking about the interaction between crypto and securities laws. Her views are important: the judge is overseeing the Securities and Exchange Commission’s suit against Coinbase, a case that could reshape the industry.
Source: New York Judge Previews Crypto Thinking in Uniswap’s ‘Huge’ Win