Uniswap Labs, the software development studio leading contributions to the Uniswap Protocol, recently announced that it will be limiting access to some 100+ tokens on the Uniswap interface.The announcement comes as a cautionary strategy, with Uniswap Labs citing “the evolving regulatory landscape” for the crypto and blockchain space as a prime reason for the new set of restrictions. The action also follows similar measures taken for other DeFi protocols that have access to the Uniswap Protocol, given how Uniswap Labs built the protocol as an open-source platform.
“Today, consistent with actions taken by other DeFi interfaces, we have taken the decision to restrict access to certain tokens through app.uniswap.org.” Uniswap Labs stated.
The restrictions follow from the recent attention by regulators on tokens that somehow provide a similar contract set to token offerings, which are usually regulated by exchanges prior to exiting or releasing these tokens on an open market.Uniswap Labs further explained that only the protocol’s inter-operable interface would be updated with the new restrictions, with the protocol itself remaining autonomous and decentralized:
“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.”
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have similarly led regulatory incursions into the token market, targeting certain tokens for possible fraud and illegalities.
“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.” said Gary Gensler, SEC’s current chairman.
The full list of tokens that would now become unsupported on the Uniswap web app was published by Uniswap Labs on this Github repository. The list ranges from tokenized stocks, options and derivatives, as well as mirror stocks and some wrapped tokens interfacing with more mainstream protocols.Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
