Judge dismisses class action lawsuit against Uniswap

• A US court has dismissed the class action lawsuit against crypto platform Uniswap.
• The suit alleged Uniswap users lost money in scam tokens on the platform,but the judge ruled you cannot sue software of provider of the software for crimes committed by third parties.

Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York has thrown out a class action lawsuit filed against Uniswap. 

The judge ruled that Uniswap Labs and its CEO cannot be sued for providing the software, when its third-party users who committed alleged scams.

No identifiable defendant

The lawsuit filed in April 2022 alleged that the plaintiffs lost money in scam tokens bought via the DEX platform. Judge Failla, who is also the judge assigned to the Coinbase/SEC case, wrote that there is no “identifiable defendant” to sue as the identity of the scammers was unknown to either party.

“Due to the Protocol’s decentralized nature, the identities of the Scam Token issuers are basically unknown and unknowable, leaving Plaintiffs with an identifiable injury but no identifiable defendant,” read part of the judge’s ruling.

The class action lawsuit had also named Uniwap founder Hayden Adams and VC backers Andreessen Horowitz and Paradigm as defendants. Other than the allegation that Uniswap listed the Scam Tokens, the suit also claimed that the decentralised exchange platform sold unregistered securities.

Commenting on the court’s decision, Uniswap’s chief legal officer Marvin Ammori said via X:

“Another huge victory for the crypto world & software devs. SDNY court tossed out a class action against us, deciding that the “self-driving” Uniswap protocol has primarily *lawful* use & protocol devs aren’t liable when others misuse it. The trend in courts is obvious.”

Judge Failla’s ruling is the latest in a series of court decisions that reflect on the broader crypto ecosystem and the highly crucial question of clarity. Recent high profile wins for crypto companies include that of Ripple Labs and that of Grayscale Investments, both involving the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).