Leading decentralized finance protocol Uniswap Labs has agreed to pay a $175,000 settlement to resolve charges brought by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that alleged Uniswap offered illegal leveraged and margined commodities transactions through its platform.

Ethereum Layer-2 network Polygon has successfully migrated its native MATIC token to POL in a transition that marks a key step in the network’s development into a zero-knowledge (ZK) chain and its integration with AggLayer, a platform designed to consolidate liquidity and state across multiple chains.

Robinhood Markets’ crypto arm has agreed to pay a $3.9 million settlement to resolve charges brought by the California Department of Justice over its crypto withdrawal halt between 2018 and 2022.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Uniswap Labs Settles CFTC Charges Over ‘Illegal’ Leveraged Tokens
• Polygon Migrates MATIC Token to POL
• Robinhood Crypto Pays $3.9 Million to Settle California Charges
• Spot Trading Volumes Rise To The Highest Level Since May

Uniswap Labs Settles CFTC Charges Over ‘Illegal’ Leveraged Tokens

Leading decentralized finance protocol Uniswap Labs has agreed to pay a $175,000 settlement to resolve charges brought by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that alleged Uniswap offered illegal leveraged and margined commodities transactions through its platform.

Uniswap developed a user interface and smart contracts that allowed users to trade tokens, including those created by third parties, according to the CFTC. Among these tokens were leveraged tokens that provided investors with exposure to margined or leveraged returns against the price of Bitcoin and Ether.

The CFTC argued that Uniswap did not register as a designated contract market and was therefore not authorized to offer leveraged trading products.

However, two CFTC commissioners, Summer Mersinger and Caroline Pham, dissented from the settlement. Mersinger criticized the application of rules intended for centralized platforms to decentralized ones, arguing that the settlement was a "de minimis penalty that bears little relationship to the conduct alleged,” adding that Uniswap had taken steps to block users from trading leveraged tokens.

Follow CFTC Commissioner Pham questioned whether the leveraged tokens actually offered leverage and criticized the CFTC's approach to the enforcement action.

Uniswap Labs is also facing a potential enforcement action from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as it received a Wells Notice in April, indicating that the SEC may file a lawsuit against it.

In a statement, Uniswap's Chief Legal Officer, Katherine Minarik, said that the settlement with the CFTC was for a "small fraction of a percent of trading" through its interface and that the company remains committed to building the future of DeFi.

Polygon Migrates MATIC Token to POL

Ethereum Layer-2 network Polygon has successfully migrated its native MATIC token to POL in a transition that marks a key step in the network’s development into a zero-knowledge (ZK) chain and its integration with AggLayer, a platform designed to consolidate liquidity and state across multiple chains.

The POL token will maintain the same tokenomics as MATIC, with a total supply of 10 billion tokens, and remain the network’s native gas and staking token. The initial exchange ratio from MATIC to POL is 1:1, with a gradual increase of 2% in emissions over ten years to support network growth.

MATIC holders on the Polygon PoS chain do not need to do anything, as the upgrade to POL will occur automatically. However, MATIC holders on Ethereum, Polygon zkEVM, or centralized exchanges have to use a migration contract to migrate their MATIC to POL.

The POL token will have roles in block production, zero-knowledge proof generation, and participation in Data Availability Committees (DACs).

Robinhood Crypto Pays $3.9 Million to Settle California Charges

Robinhood Markets’ crypto arm has agreed to pay a $3.9 million settlement to resolve charges brought by the California Department of Justice over its crypto withdrawal halt between 2018 and 2022.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta accused Robinhood Crypto of violating state commodities laws by allowing customers to purchase crypto without delivering the assets to them and forcing them to sell these assets for their funds to leave the platform.

Additionally, Bonta alleged Robinhood misled its users about the custody of their cryptocurrency as in some cases other trading venues held the assets, and by advertising it would connect to multiple trading venues to get users competitive prices, which wasn’t always what happened.

Robinhood did not admit or deny wrongdoing in the settlement agreement. As part of the settlement, the company must allow customers to withdraw their crypto to their own wallets, clarify its trading, order handling, and custody representations, and ensure that these representations are followed.

Spot Trading Volumes Rise To The Highest Level Since May

The combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges rose 5.38% in August to $5.22 trillion, marking the second consecutive month of increased trading activity on these platforms.

The surge in volume was primarily driven by heightened volatility following the unwinding of the Japanese Yen carry trade, which involves borrowing the Japanese Yen at low interest rates and investing in higher-yielding assets, often in other currencies.

The unwinding of this trade led to a decline in the value of the Japanese Yen as the Bank of Japan hiked interest rates, which in turn impacted both traditional financial markets and digital assets.

Spot trading volumes on centralized exchanges rose by 7.06% to $1.54 trillion, the highest level since May, while derivatives trading volumes also reached their highest point since May, increasing by 4.70% to $3.68 trillion.

Dig deeper into the world of cryptocurrency trading with CCData’s latest Exchange Review report.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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