The price of Uniswap's native token, UNI, has experienced a significant drop, falling by 15.39% within hours of receiving a Wells Notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 10. At the time of writing, UNI is trading at $9.42, with a market cap of $5.6 billion and a spike in daily trading volumes of 313% to $650 million.

Whales Offload UNI Holdings

Following the news of a potential legal battle between Uniswap and the SEC, some of the largest UNI holders began selling off their tokens. Lookonchain reported that three major holders sold a combined 2.03 million UNI tokens (worth $20 million), causing a 17% decline in UNI's price.

Two of these wallets, 0x2F8b and 0x3555, transferred 1.25 million UNI tokens (worth $11.7 million) to Binance, potentially earning a profit of $3.5 million. Another wallet, 0x4A0B, sold 472,691 UNI tokens for 4.59 million USDC, netting a profit of $1.67 million. Additionally, six wallets moved 316,430 UNI tokens (worth $3.16 million) to Binance.

Liquidation Event

Whitzardflow.eth, an entity that had previously acquired 262,045 UNI tokens between March 1 and March 13, faced a liquidation event. They sold off 107,010 UNI tokens (worth $1 million) to settle a debt, retaining 155,034 UNI tokens valued at approximately $1.46 million with a health rate of 1.19.

Founder's Response

Uniswap founder Hayden Adams expressed his views on the platform, stating that he anticipates a lengthy legal battle with the SEC that could last for years. Adams criticized the SEC's focus on protecting opaque systems over consumer interests and emphasized the need to defend Uniswap and the broader industry.

Adams expects a protracted legal struggle that could reach the highest judicial authority, acknowledging the significance of the conflict and its potential impact on the future of financial technology and the industry as a whole.