Uniswap, the leading decentralized exchange (DEX) in the Ethereum ecosystem, has just officially announced that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ended its investigation targeting this organization without any charges. This information was announced by Uniswap on the evening of February 25, 2025.

The SEC's Three-Year Investigation

In April 2024, Uniswap revealed that it had received a warning from the SEC, claiming that the platform was operating as a securities exchange and securities broker without registering with the commission. However, Hayden Adams, the founder of Uniswap, strongly objected and pointed out that the SEC has no legal basis to classify the DeFi sector as a securities.

A Major Win for Crypto

The SEC’s decision to not file any charges is seen as a major victory for the crypto industry, affirming that decentralized technologies are fundamentally different from traditional financial solutions.

With no regulatory constraints, Uniswap can now focus on implementing important changes, especially the proposal to share trading fees with UNI token holders – a policy that was announced early last year but was delayed due to SEC intervention.

SEC’s Change in Regulatory Stance

Uniswap became the fourth name in the past week to be cleared of SEC investigation, following Coinbase, OpenSea and Robinhood Crypto.

This change is seen as a sign of the SEC’s new regulatory stance under new US President Donald Trump. New SEC Chairman Mark Uyeda has made several moves to overhaul crypto regulation, including:

Establishing a dedicated crypto task force led by Commissioner Hester Pierce

Changing management personnel

Creating a crypto and AI fraud oversight board

Revoking regulations that prevent banks from custodianing crypto

Accepting ETF filings for altcoins like XRP, Litecoin, Solana, and staking capabilities

Market Impact

The UNI token price has risen slightly after the SEC concluded its investigation without any charges. The SEC’s regulatory change could open up new opportunities for the crypto industry, helping DeFi projects like Uniswap grow and make important upgrades in the future.