Uniswap Wins Full Court Dismissal in Major Scam Token Lawsuit

Highlights:

• The court cleared Uniswap Labs and its founder in a major scam case and issued the final verdict.
• The presiding judge argued that Uniswap should not take responsibility for other people’s actions.
• Hayden Adams welcomed the court’s verdict, describing it as a legal precedent and a sensible outcome.

A United States Federal Judge has dismissed the long-standing lawsuit against Decentralized Exchange (DEX), Uniswap Labs, and its founder, Hayden Adams. Prosecutors tried to blame Uniswap for allowing the sales of scam tokens between April 5, 201, and April 4, 2022. After years of proceedings, the case has been finally dismissed with no action taken against the company and the founder. 

💻JUST IN: JUDGE RULES @UNISWAP AND OTHER DEVS NOT LIABLE FOR 3RD PARTY SCAMS

In a case previously dismissed in 2023, the same case was dismissed again, where a plaintiff alleged Uniswap should be held liable for scam tokens listed and tradable through their app

The court… pic.twitter.com/8SqYByxf0G

— BSCN (@BSCNews) March 2, 2026

Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that Uniswap Labs cannot be held responsible for the fraud carried out by unknown third-party token creators. The court pronounced its decision on March 2, dismissing the second amended complaint with prejudice. This means that the case cannot be filed again. 

For context, the court case began in 2022 when a group of investors claimed that they lost money in so-called “rug pulls” and pump-and-dump schemes. They argued that Uniswap supported the scam by running a marketplace where buyers and sellers could trade tokens. In their view, providing a platform to trade the so-called scam tokens means facilitating the fraud. 

Judge’s Argument and Final Ruling

In her ruling, the judge argued that simply providing a platform for people to trade does not make the platform responsible for what other users do on it. She also pointed out that the prosecutors’ claims were mainly based on the idea that Uniswap aided the scam trades by bringing buyers and sellers together. She added that the court does not find the claims plausible enough to sanction the DEX platform.  

Repeating a key phrase from an earlier ruling, Judge Failla said it defies logic to hold the writer of smart contract code responsible for how someone else decides to use the code. In clearer terms, her statement translates to creating software is not the same as participating in fraud committed by others.

Before now, several parts of this case have been dismissed. In 2023, the judge cleared the company of federal securities claims. The United States Court of Appeals later upheld this verdict for the Second Circuit. The appeal court later sent the remaining state-law claims back to the district court, which has now dismissed them too. 

BREAKING💥💥💥

Uniswap Wins Dismissal of Entire "Scam Token" Class Action, Court Finds Developers Not Responsible for Third-Party Abuse.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District of New York ruled to dismiss the remaining state law claims against… pic.twitter.com/H2aci3sxRz

— Cryptera 📊 (@Humble_FX001) March 3, 2026

Adams Reacts as Uniswap Wins Full Court Dismissal

Uniswap Labs’ General Counsel and Head of Policy, Brian Nistler, reacted to the court ruling in an X post. He described the court’s verdict as an important win for decentralized finance. He praised the court for rejecting claims that outside token issuers were Uniswap’s responsibility.

The General Counsel stated:

“Though the claims have changed, the result is the same: Plaintiffs cannot hold Defendants liable for the misconduct of the unidentified third-party issuers.” 

Uniswap founder Hayden Adams also reacted to the court win in an X post. He described it as a new legal precedent and a sensible outcome. He was particularly interested in the judge’s smart contract code analogy, as he stated, “If you write open source smart contract code, and the code is used by scammers, the scammers are liable, not the open source devs.”

🦄 Uniswap wins another case that sets a new legal prescendent

TLDR:
If you write open source smart contract code, and the code is used by scammers, the scammers are liable, not the open source devs

Good, sensible outcome https://t.co/ZvfIMGk7TN

— Hayden Adams 🦄 (@haydenzadams) March 2, 2026