CFTC charges Uniswap, Brazil’s X ban, and more: Law Decoded

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.

Continue reading

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.

Brazilian Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered the suspension of X services to Brazilian users, sparking social media activists to argue for no fines for “anyone using a VPN to access X.”

On Sept. 3, Catherine Smirnova, partner and attorney at law at Digital & Analogue Partners, told Cointelegraph that VPN access “is also prohibited” under Moraes’ order.

Continue reading

US prosecutors allegedly link ex-FTX exec to Chinese bribery scandal

US prosecutors have allegedly linked Ryan Salame, the former FTX digital markets co-CEO, to the names of Thai prostitutes in part of efforts to unfreeze FTX and Alameda Research-tied accounts.

In the Sept. 5 filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, US attorneys filed a memorandum opposing Salame’s motion to vacate his guilty plea.

Salame had previously withdrawn his petition to vacate the plea on Aug. 29 but was denied, and Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered that both parties appear on Sept. 12 to address the matter.

The motion issued by the US prosecutors described Salame’s petition as “shameless and self-serving” and defined it as “factually and legally meritless.”

Continue reading