CoinDesk reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that New York State Attorney General (NYAG) Letitia James has joined the fray and launched a regulatory offensive against the cryptocurrency trading platform Uniswap.
The report pointed out that Letitia Jamesâ office issued a subpoena to some Uniswap venture capital companies last month, including well-known venture capital institutions Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Union Square Ventures.
A spokesperson for Uniswap said in an email:
âUniswap Labs is a proud pioneer of DeFi technology, born in New York, providing a path to better, fairer financial services for all of us. We donât want anyone to be unnecessarily burdened with subpoenas. But we are always open to discussions with No government agency or elected official has a conversation about responsible DeFi innovation, especially in our hometown of New York.â
In addition, according to previous reports by Zombit, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) ordered Uniswap Labs on Wednesday to pay a civil penalty of $175,000 and cease violations of the Commodity Exchange Act.
Uniswap has been under a lot of pressure from regulators since the collapse of FTX and other cryptocurrency companies in 2022. Back in April 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a so-called Wells Notice to Uniswap, claiming that the DeFi platform acted as an unregistered securities broker and an unregistered securities exchange. According to reports, the SEC has also previously sent letters to a16z and Union Square Ventures to obtain relevant information about Uniswap.
On the other hand, Attorney General Letitia James has previously launched enforcement actions against cryptocurrency companies such as Genesis, Gemini, Digital Currency Group, CoinEx, KuCoin, and Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky. An insider who requested anonymity said:
âLetitia James appears to be following in the footsteps of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler in using cryptocurrencies as a tool of political attack.â
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