On Friday, Uniswap Labs, the development firm behind decentralized crypto exchange Uniswap, announced that it would cut off access to certain tokens on the protocol it supports.
The decentralized exchange cited “the evolving regulatory landscape” in its explanation of cuts. The news comes on the heels of heightened scrutiny on tokens imitating offerings that are typically regulated at an exchange level, particularly by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The list that Uniswap published included 129 tokens. These range from tokenized stocks, mirror stocks, options and derivatives. Examples include Tether Gold, opyn options on ETH at different strikes and expirations, synthetix products on other coins and stocks, tokenized versions of Zelda and Mini Mario Cash, UMA yield dollars, and stocks like “mirror Amazon” and “mirror Tesla.”
SEC Chair Gary Gensler recently cautioned the crypto industry about securities offerings in tokenized form. Gensler said: “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a stock token, a stable value token backed by securities, or any other virtual product that provides synthetic exposure to underlying securities.”
However, the announcement noted that it is simply the official interface that the protocol itself remains unchanged:
“Importantly, the Uniswap Protocol — unlike the interface — is a set of autonomous, decentralized, and immutable smart contracts. It provides unrestricted access to anyone with an Internet connection. “
