CFTC charges Uniswap, Brazil’s X ban, and more: Law Decoded
#CFTCLawsuit Uniswap Labs agreed to pay $175,000 in civil penalties and cease trading leveraged tokens following CFTC charges.
On Sept. 4, the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged decentralized exchange developer Uniswap Labs with illegal derivatives trading for retail investors.
In an announcement, the CFTC stated that Uniswap had agreed to settle the charges by paying a $175,000 civil penalty.
Additionally, Uniswap Labs has agreed to stop violating the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and has already ceased trading certain leveraged tokens as required by the CFTC.
Ian McGinley, director of enforcement at the CFTC, said that the division would “vigorously enforce the CEA as digital assets platforms and DeFi ecosystems evolve.”
Early Ethereum adviser sues law firm for $100 million over crypto extortion case defense
On Sept. 6, Steven Nerayoff, an early Ethereum network adviser, sued the law firm Covington & Burling for claims that it mishandled his defense in a 2019 US extortion case.
In the $100 million lawsuit filed by Nerayoff, he claimed he was advised not to turn over videos of “negotiations with the alleged victims” by Covington lawyer Alan Vinegrad.
On Sept. 18, 2019, Nerayoff and his associate Michael Hlady, from blockchain consulting firm Alchemist, were arrested and charged for allegations they extorted a cryptocurrency startup.
Nerayoff argued that the entire case could have been avoided if he had not been advised against presenting “the clearly exculpatory evidence to the prosecutors” in the fall of 2019.
Brazil’s X ban: Are VPN users at risk for accessing the platform?
On Sept. 2, a Brazilian Supreme Court panel upheld the ban on social media platform X, which restricts Brazilians’ access to its services.
Prominent figures, including Bluesky co-founder Jack Dorsey, promoted the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) to circumvent the ban, while others opposed it, cautioning Brazilians against any use of X.