Uniswap Begins Restricting Suspicious Wallets From Using DEX Front End

Uniswap Restricting Wallets

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Uniswap Restricting Wallets

Popular decentralized Ethereum-powered exchange Uniswap disclosed measures geared towards curbing illicit activities and suspicious wallet addresses. A partnership with on-chain data and security outfit TRM Labs will facilitate Uniswap’s latest decision to block addresses with shady transactions.

Also, Uniswap Labs has delisted a plethora of tokens due to concerns regarding regulatory clarity. These tokens supposedly shared similarities with securities and infringed on established policies. Notably, the ban from Uniswap only applies to the front end of the platform.

DEX Looks To Beef Up Security and Safety Protocols

Uniswap Labs will implement a new anti-crime system aimed at combating wallets linked to suspicious activities. The decentralized exchange developer said it will tap blockchain startup TRM to achieve this goal.

The official announcement published sometime this week stated that Uniswap has started blocking wallets that have exhibited unlawful conduct or were linked to illegal activities like money laundering, ransomware attacks, and hacks to name a few.

In a bid to combat these growing concerns, Uniswap has decided to team up with TRM and ban such wallets from accessing the front end of the DEX. TRM will deploy its data gathering system to identify suspicious wallets and feed Uniswap with the needed information, An excerpt from the announcement reads:

“We receive and analyze blockchain intelligence provided by TRM Labs. TRM Labs combines on-chain data and real-world investigations to identify financial crime and other harmful activities. We intend to only block wallets that are owned or associated with clearly illegal behavior like: sanctions, terrorism financing, hacked or stolen funds, ransomware, human trafficking, and child sexual abuse material (CSAM).”

Uniswap’s decision comes at a time when authorities are supposedly cracking down on illegal crypto-related activities. Most recently, the US Treasury and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) updated their list of sanctioned addresses to include the wallets allegedly linked to the $600 million hack on the Ronin Network.

OFAC

OFAC also reportedly sanctioned the mixer protocol Tornado Cash and the protocol has also started restricting OFAC listed addresses from accessing its front end. Just as Uniswap is leveraging TRM’s analytics tools, Tornado Cash has an agreement with Chainalysis, a popular cyber security firm in the blockchain space.

The Uniswap Labs team emphasized that the decision is solely geared towards delivering a trustworthy service for investors. An excerpt from the announcement reads:

“Uniswap Labs’ policy is to prevent people engaged in illegal behavior from using our App. We remain committed to developing products in a way that provides a safe, transparent, and robust financial infrastructure that can empower users around the world.”

As of the time of writing the report, it remains unclear how many wallets Uniswap has blocked from its front end so far.

Other News – Ronin Bridge Exploit

About $5.8 million from the funds stolen in the Ronin bridge hack have been frozen on Binance, says Changpeng Zhao. The exchange supposedly spotted the suspicious activity across several accounts and linked the funds to the alleged North Korean hacker group Lazarus.