SEC Drops Uniswap Case: Who’s Next?

Introduction

The U.S. SEC has officially dropped its case against Uniswap, following its recent decision to dismiss the lawsuit against Gemini—another big win for the crypto industry. The DeFi giant hailed the move as a "huge win for DeFi" amid reports suggesting the SEC could take a radically different approach to crypto enforcement in 2025.

SEC vs Crypto

In April 2024, Uniswap announced that it had received a Wells notice from the SEC while the commission was under the leadership of then-Chair Gary Gensler. The SEC argued that the platform’s model might expose investors to unmitigated risks by operating outside the confines of traditional financial regulations. 

Fast forward to February 2025, the SEC has wrapped up its investigation into Uniswap and won’t be pursuing any enforcement action, according to an X post by Uniswap.

Uniswap’s official announcement, Source: X

Similarly, Coinbase claimed on Feb. 21 that the SEC would be dropping its case against the exchange nearly two years after it began. The regulator’s Enforcement Division is also closing investigations into Robinhood Crypto, OpenSea, and as previously mentioned, Gemini. Addressing the issue, Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini, criticized the SEC in a tweet, stating: 

This comes 699 days after the start of their investigation and 277 days after they sent us a Wells Notice.

Tweet responses from Gemini's founders, Source: X

Ongoing Crypto Investigations

With these developments, the big question is: which crypto projects or companies could be next to get relief from the SEC? Here are some notable crypto platforms currently under investigation by the U.S. watchdog:

• LBRY (Content Sharing):

  LBRY, a decentralized content-sharing platform that empowers creators to publish and monetize their work using its native token (LBRY Credits), has also found itself in the regulatory crosshairs. The SEC alleged that LBRY’s token issuance constituted an unregistered securities offering, which led the LBRY team to wind down their operations.  

• Kraken (Staking Services):

  The SEC sued Kraken in 2023 for failing to register its crypto staking-as-a-service program as securities offerings. Staking rewards are often framed as “investment contracts,” but Kraken argues its services are distinct from traditional securities.  

• Paxos (BUSD Stablecoin):

  The SEC alleged in 2023 that Paxos’ Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin qualified as an unregistered security, and since then it has been discontinued.

The Bigger Picture: A New Regulatory Era

This development comes at a time when the U.S. political landscape is evolving, with a pro-crypto president signalling a potential shift in regulatory priorities. While x-SEC Chair Gary Gensler remains a staunch advocate for strict enforcement, bipartisan efforts in Congress, such as the FIT21 Act, ongoing stablecoin legislation and the newly formed Crypto Task Force suggest a broader shift toward pragmatic crypto regulation.

Moreover, federal courts have increasingly questioned the SEC’s “regulation by enforcement” tactics, with judges in the Ripple and Grayscale cases rejecting the agency’s overreach. These developments indicate that the U.S. crypto landscape is undergoing a paradigm shift—one where collaboration between lawmakers, courts, and industry players could finally deliver the regulatory clarity the sector has long demanded.

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