The Federal Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a class action lawsuit against DEX Uniswap and its founder Hayden Adams. The plaintiffs sought compensation for losses from trading fraudulent tokens on the platform.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla closed the case, ruling that the company is not liable for the actions of third-party issuers.
Users lost money on fraudulent projects, including Pump & Dump schemes and exit scams. The plaintiffs claimed that Uniswap facilitated criminals by providing them with a platform to find buyers.
The court rejected this theory: Failla noted that it is absurd to blame the creators of smart contract code for abuses by third parties. According to the judge, providing a functioning platform does not make developers accomplices to fraud.
The proceedings had been ongoing since 2022. In 2023, the court had already dismissed claims against Uniswap regarding violations of federal securities laws. The new ruling closes the case entirely. The plaintiffs failed to prove deception or unlawful enrichment by the protocol’s creators.
Uniswap Labs’ chief legal officer Brian Nistler called the decision a precedent for the DeFi sector. He emphasized that the court has once again protected open-source authors from liability for others’ actions.
Another day, another precedent-setting ruling for DeFi.
Today, Judge Failla dismissed with prejudice the Risley class action against @Uniswap Labs and @haydenzadams. The Federal charges had previously been dismissed, and today the various state claims are dismissed. Again, the…
— Brian (@N0th1n3) March 2, 2026
“If fraudsters use open-source smart contracts, it is the fraudsters who are accountable, not the developers,” wrote Adams.
Following the court victory and the overall rise in the crypto market, the native token of the exchange, UNI, rose by 2.1% to $3.88.
In January 2026, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission withdrew its lawsuit against the Bitcoin exchange Gemini.