Uniswap Founder and Former SEC Aide Engage in Heated Exchange Over Decentralization
A recent proposal by Uniswap Labs and the Uniswap Foundation to merge their operations and activate a long-awaited fee transition has sparked a heated debate between Uniswap founder Hayden Adams and Amanda Fischer, former chief of staff to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. The exchange has reopened old wounds in the crypto industry, with some arguing that decentralization is being compromised for regulatory convenience.
Fischer, now at Better Markets, sparked the debate with a tweet suggesting that Uniswap’s proposal to consolidate Foundation operations into the for-profit Labs unit while funneling protocol fees to UNI token burns was a move away from decentralization. Adams responded, accusing Fischer of not understanding the true values of decentralization and pointing out that he had built the largest decentralized marketplace in the world.
The Debate Over Decentralization and Regulation
The debate between Adams and Fischer is not just about a governance vote, but a proxy war over how Washington and Web3 think about decentralization and regulation. The exchange has brought back memories of the FTX collapse and the regulatory environment that led to it. Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) policy framework, released in October 2022, endorsed the licensing of DeFi frontends and provided for a review of OFAC sanctions, sparking a backlash from developers who saw it as a capitulation to regulatory pressure.
Adams’ reference to FTX was not just a rhetorical flourish, but a strategic dig at the regulatory environment that allowed SBF to promote a centralized exchange model. The debate crystallized in a Bankless episode in which Erik Voorhees accused SBF of “glorifying OFAC” and undermining crypto’s core values. The episode solidified a narrative that Bankman-Fried wanted a regulatory takeover in favor of centralized exchanges, and Washington was willing to play along.
The Fee Change and Its Implications
The unification proposal represents a real structural change for Uniswap. Since the launch of UNI in 2020, Uniswap Labs have operated independently of governance and had limited participation in protocol decisions. The fee switch remained inactive despite repeated attempts, each of which was stalled by legal ambiguity over whether activation would turn UNI into a security.
The November 10 proposal, co-authored by Adams, foundation executive director Devin Walsh, and researcher Kenneth Ng, activates protocol fees for all Uniswap v2 and v3 pools, directs proceeds to UNI burns, and immediately wipes 100 million UNI from the treasury. Labs would also stop charging its own interface fees, which have generated a total of $137 million. The merger will consolidate Foundation operations into labs, creating a “one aligned team” for protocol development.
What This Means for the Future of Decentralization
The current SEC has retreated from cryptocurrency enforcement under the new administration. Fischer’s Better Markets analysis expressly criticizes this decline. For enforcement advocates, Uniswap’s unification is a victory that fades away after the regulations are successfully adopted. For Adams and the DeFi community, the proposal represents deserved autonomy after enduring years of hostile oversight that all but classified UNI as a security, resulting in legal uncertainty so profound that the fee transition remained dormant despite the wishes of token holders.
The FTX reference goes deepest because it reframes the question of who worked with whom. If SBF’s Washington agenda aligned with the SEC’s preferences, then enforcement-oriented regulators were the enablers of centralization, not protectors against it. Adams built a permissionless infrastructure; Bankman-Fried advocated for licensed bottlenecks. One has survived regulatory review and is now enabling value sharing for token holders. The other fell into fraud.
The $800 million token burn and 79% probability of governance approval suggest that the market has already chosen its answer. As the debate over decentralization and regulation continues, it is clear that the crypto industry is at a crossroads. Will it choose to compromise on its core values for regulatory convenience, or will it continue to push for a permissionless and decentralized future?
Read more about the debate over decentralization and regulation in the crypto industry at https://cryptoslate.com/former-sec-aide-and-uniswap-founder-clash-over-decentralizations-true-role/
