{"id":13643,"date":"2022-08-20T20:11:47","date_gmt":"2022-08-20T20:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/uniswap-censors-253-crypto-addresses-blacklisted-for-crime-sanction-associations-defi-bitcoin-news\/"},"modified":"2022-08-20T20:11:47","modified_gmt":"2022-08-20T20:11:47","slug":"uniswap-censors-253-crypto-addresses-blacklisted-for-crime-sanction-associations-defi-bitcoin-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/uniswap-censors-253-crypto-addresses-blacklisted-for-crime-sanction-associations-defi-bitcoin-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Uniswap Censors 253 Crypto Addresses Blacklisted for Crime, Sanction Associations \u2013 Defi Bitcoin News"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News )<\/b>
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According to a recently published report, the decentralized exchange (dex) Uniswap has blocked roughly 253 cryptocurrency addresses allegedly tied to crimes or government sanctions. The information was discovered by the software developer Banteg who analyzed and saved the shared logs from Uniswap\u2019s server. <\/strong><\/p>\n

30 out of the 253 Blocked Addresses Are ENS Domain Names, Uniswap Labels 7 Types of Risk Factor Categories<\/h2>\n

On August 19, the software developer and Yearn Finance contributor Banteg published a Twitter thread<\/a> that claims the dex Uniswap blocks 253 crypto addresses. \u201cUniswap has provided an unusual level of transparency,\u201d Banteg said in regard to \u201cfrontend censoring via TRM Labs.\u201d Uniswap partnered<\/a> with TRM Labs in mid-April and the firm blacklists crypto addresses that may be associated with sanctions and crypto crimes.<\/p>\n

\"Uniswap
Github repo screenshot shared by Banteg on August 19, 2022.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The same month, <\/span>reports<\/span><\/a> appeared that indicated a few innocent Uniswap users were <\/span>affected<\/span><\/a> by the TRM Labs-gated front end. At the time, no one was sure about exactly how many crypto addresses were blacklisted by Uniswap\u2019s TRM Labs-gated front end. Banteg says there are <\/span>253 addresses<\/span><\/a> and 30 addresses are ENS domain names. The developer also noted that there are seven different types of risk factor categories and two risk levels. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBoth ownership and being a counterparty of a \u2018bad\u2019 address are checked and can contribute to blocking,\u201d Banteg <\/span>wrote<\/span><\/a>. According to Banteg, the data \u201cwasn\u2019t meant to be public\u201d but the developer noted that people could still have an \u201cexclusive look at the very first [TRM Labs] leak, courtesy of Uniswap.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Smart Contracts and Code Are Defi, Not the Web Platforms That Host Them<\/h2>\n

The news follows the recent <\/span>U.S. government ban of Tornado Cash<\/span><\/a>, the ethereum mixing protocol that leverages Coinjoin and ZKsnark technology. After Tornado Cash was banned an open source developer was <\/span>arrested<\/span><\/a>, Github code was <\/span>erased<\/span><\/a>, Tornado Cash Github codebase contributors were suspended, and the project\u2019s Discord server was <\/span>deleted<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Uniswap<\/p>\n

However, the non-profit that focuses on policy issues facing crypto assets, Coin Center, believes the U.S. Treasury Department\u2019s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) \u201coverstepped its legal authority.\u201d Coin Center is researching the legalities of the Tornado Cash ban and plans to \u201cengage\u201d with OFAC to discuss the matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Uniswap<\/p>\n

While Uniswap has been updating its TRM Labs-gated front end, there\u2019s likely a whole lot more crypto companies and decentralized finance (defi) protocols following the same measures. For instance, on August 8, Banteg <\/span>revealed<\/span><\/a> that the Centre Consortium, the stablecoin issuer operated by Circle Financial and Coinbase Global, blacklisted 75,000 USDC that belonged to Tornado Cash users. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is the first case when a pool has been frozen and not an individual account,\u201d Banteg said at the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

The issues surrounding Tornado Cash and the precautions taken by defi teams like Uniswap, expose the underlying weakness in so-called \u2018decentralized finance\u2019 protocols and whether or not they truly are decentralized.<\/p>\n

\"Uniswap<\/p>\n

Even before Tornado Cash was banned by the U.S. government, Tornado Cash developers blacklisted<\/a> an OFAC-listed ethereum address using a Chainalysis oracle contract. Moreover, in July 2021, users criticized Uniswap for blocking over 100 tokens<\/a> from the main interface.<\/p>\n

\"Uniswap<\/p>\n

During both these instances, crypto users discussed how they could simply leverage<\/a> Tornado Cash code or Uniswap\u2019s smart contracts and mirror sites<\/a> to bypass these types of restrictions. The fact is that Uniswap is a company registered in the U.S. and the frontend, or website, is owned by the U.S. entity. In time, people may want to clarify that defi web portals are not decentralized, and the only things that could be classified as such would be the smart contracts and code.<\/p>\n

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\nTags in this story
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Banteg<\/a>, blacklisted 75000 USDC<\/a>, Centre Consortium<\/a>, Code<\/a>, CoinJoin<\/a>, Crimes<\/a>, crypto crimes<\/a>, Decentralized<\/a>, DeFi<\/a>, OFAC<\/a>, OFAC ban<\/a>, Sanctions<\/a>, Smart Contracts<\/a>, so called defi<\/a>, Tornado cash<\/a>, TRM labs<\/a>, TRM Labs-gated front end<\/a>, uniswap<\/a>, Uniswap addresses<\/a>, Uniswap frontend<\/a>, US government ban<\/a>, ZKsnarks<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

What do you think about the dex Uniswap blocking 253 crypto addresses? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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\nJamie Redman <\/h6>\n

\nJamie Redman is the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News and a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 5,700 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

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Image Credits<\/b>: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons<\/em><\/p>\n

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