Uniswap Faces CFTC Charges
This week, the DeFi space witnessed significant regulatory news as the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged Uniswap Labs with illegally offering leveraged cryptocurrency trading to retail investors. According to a September 4 announcement, Uniswap Labs has agreed to a $175,000 civil penalty and has committed to cease its violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).
CFTC’s Director of Enforcement, Ian McGinley, warned of potential future enforcement actions, emphasizing the need for DeFi operators to ensure compliance with the law. McGinley stated, “DeFi operators must be vigilant to ensure that transactions comply with the law.”
Polygon’s MATIC Upgraded to POL
In other DeFi news, Polygon’s native cryptocurrency, MATIC, has been upgraded to the Polygon Ecosystem Token (POL) as of September 4. Polygon announced that the new POL token is designed to be “hyperproductive,” supporting the broader vision of Polygon 2.0, which aims to integrate the entire Web3 space via AggLayer, including layer-1 blockchains.
Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, highlighted the upgrade’s benefits: “Now that there are 2% emissions being introduced through this upgrade, it’s going to give an opportunity for the community to participate.” The upgrade is expected to enhance community involvement and support the network’s growth.
MEV Bot’s $12 Million Loan for Minimal Profit
An “unlucky” maximum extractable value (MEV) bot recently took out a $12 million flash loan but only realized a modest $20 in profit. According to a September 5 post by Arkham Intelligence, the bot used the loan to perform a sandwich attack on a user swapping approximately $5,000 worth of Shuffle (SHFL) tokens.
During the attack, the MEV bot conducted 14 transactions across various decentralized finance protocols, including Aave and Uniswap, handling around $700,000 in USD Coin (USDC) and Wrapped Ether (WETH) loans.
Solana Price Drops Amid Large Token Sale
Solana (SOL) experienced a significant price decline this week, falling over 12% to $128 as of September 4. The drop is attributed to continued selling by memecoin launch platform Pump.fun, which sold an additional $1.38 million worth of SOL coins, further contributing to the token’s price drop.
According to a September 3 post by Lookonchain, “The Pump.fun Fee Account sold 10,300 $SOL ($1.38M) at $134.46 again 40 mins ago!”
Penpie Protocol Exploit Results in $27 Million Loss
The Penpie protocol, built on Pendle, was exploited on September 3, leading to a $27 million loss of client funds. The offending transaction was traced back to an address ending in “bb7,” among several used by the hacker. Penpie has since suspended all deposits and withdrawals while reassuring users that all customer funds remain secure. The protocol has paused all contracts until the issue is resolved.
DeFi Market Overview
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView indicates that most of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap ended the week in the red. The Beam gaming network’s token (BEAM) was the largest loser, falling 22%, followed by the Immutable (IMX) token, which dropped nearly 20% over the week.
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