### Uniswap Labs Prepares for Possible SEC Legal Battle

Uniswap Labs has stated its readiness to fight back if the SEC takes legal action against the crypto firm. Measuring daily active users (DAU) in crypto can be challenging, a fact familiar to regular readers of Empire.

Farcaster, a social media protocol powering the crypto-native app Warpcast, has seen a significant increase in network activity, with a 50x surge since last October according to a Dune dashboard. This growth has continued, with nearly 35,000 daily unique users in February and over 48,000 earlier this month.

Founder Dan Romero has pledged to focus on increasing DAUs for the rest of the year. However, the actual number of active users, as in real individuals, remains uncertain. Over 382,000 unique addresses have interacted with Farcaster, but some may have paid multiple times for additional IDs, and others could be bots engaging in DEGEN tip farming, complicating DAU measurements.

Ethereum team lead Péter Szilágyi highlighted the issue of bot activity boosting engagement stats in token-driven communities. Romero emphasized that Farcaster aims to provide opportunities for on-chain developers to reach interested users, reflecting pent-up demand for distribution channels.

In legal news, a judge recently dismissed the SEC’s claims against Coinbase’s wallet service acting as an unregistered broker, a decision that could be significant for Uniswap. However, the major questions doctrine, which has not been successfully argued in court, may pose a challenge for Uniswap. Despite this, Uniswap can rely on legal precedents and the changing political climate.

Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart suggested a political motive behind the SEC’s engagement with ETH ETF issuers, indicating that the SEC might need to reconsider its regulation-by-enforcement approach. Regardless, there are existing legal precedents that companies like Robinhood, Uniswap, and Consensys can leverage.

With potential legal battles for Coinbase and Binance on the horizon, and crypto becoming a politically sensitive topic ahead of the November elections, the outcome remains uncertain. SEC Chair Gary Gensler has expressed concerns that a new crypto market bill, expected to be voted on in Congress, could create regulatory gaps and undermine decades of precedent.

In related news, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may support the bill, indicating bipartisan backing. Donald Trump’s campaign has started accepting crypto donations, including shiba inu, via Coinbase. Meanwhile, a Hong Kong regulator has ordered Worldcoin to cease operations for violating data privacy rules.

Crypto’s Evolution and Growing Pains

Crypto is no longer a young industry. Bitcoin's genesis block was mined over 15 years ago, and Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin, who was 20 during its initial coin offering, is now in his early 30s. The recent controversy over Ethereum figures advising EigenLayer highlights the potential conflicts of interest in the industry. While both individuals have disclosed their affiliations, the challenge lies in balancing what's good for Ethereum with what's good for EigenLayer.

As the industry matures, the allure of significant paychecks becomes harder to ignore, reflecting a shift from idealism to practical considerations, as noted by former Ethereum contributor Hudson Jameson.