Uniswap taps former Obama campaign spokesperson to handle comms

Published at: Oct. 15, 2021

Decentralized exchange Uniswap has been making some interesting hires, the latest being a communications expert with close ties to the United States Democrat party.

Hari Sevugan, former senior spokesperson for Barack Obama, has joined the Uniswap Labs team according to protocol founder Hayden Adams, who welcomed him aboard on Thursday.

The hire may be part of the team’s ongoing effort to prepare for stormy regulatory weather ahead in the United States.

The Washington insider was well known for his role in former President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. Sevugan will be managing media affairs for Uniswap in addition to assisting the firm with relations to new and existing users.

Sevugan stated that it is “no longer in question” that blockchain and crypto will be part of the future, before adding:

“I’m excited to join the brilliant team at Uniswap because they’re committed to making sure we build in a way that reaches crypto’s potential of giving more people ownership of their own financial futures and the value they create.”

The hire comes at a time when Uniswap and the entire decentralized finance sector are coming under increasing scrutiny by U.S. financial regulators and policymakers.

In early September, Cointelegraph reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission had launched an investigation into Uniswap Labs, the firm behind the world’s most popular decentralized exchange. It was reported at the time that enforcement attorneys were seeking more information regarding Uniswap’s marketing and investor services.

Related: DeFi regulation must not kill the values behind decentralization

In June, the Uniswap community voted in favor of a controversial DeFi Education Fund backed by UNI treasury tokens allocated to lobbying and educational initiatives to support the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector and protect it from over-regulation.

Sevugan’s role is likely to see him involved in liaising with lawmakers in an effort to increase awareness for the protocol and the DeFi ecosystem.

“Crypto is opaque and intimidating to many outside of it. I want to help more people connect to it by making it more relatable and understandable,” he stated.

Tags
Regulation
Defi
Uniswap
Related Posts
SEC reportedly investigates decentralized exchange Uniswap
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly investigating the startup behind the world’s largest decentralized cryptocurrency exchange, Uniswap. The U.S. securities regulator has initiated a probe into Uniswap’s main developer, Uniswap Labs, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The report says that enforcement attorneys are now looking for information about Uniswap’s marketing and investor services, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter. A spokesperson for Uniswap Labs reportedly said the firm is “committed to complying with the laws and regulations governing our industry and to providing information to regulators that will assist them with any inquiry.” Uniswap …
Decentralization / Sept. 3, 2021
Harvard Law BFI throws 10.5M votes behind own proposal to fund DeFi lobby with UNI
The effect of whales on Uniswap governance is a topic of hot debate once again after Harvard's blockchain group threw a massive amount of voting power behind its own proposal. The proposal, made on May 27 by the Harvard Law School Blockchain and FinTech Initiative, is for the creation of a fund that would finance existing and new political groups engaged in crypto policy making and lobbying to defend decentralized finance against regulation. The proposed fund would have a chest of 1-1.5 million UNI, worth approximately $28 million to $42 million at current prices. At the time of writing Harvard …
Technology / May 28, 2021
Finance Redefined: Uniswap breaches $1T volume, WEF 2022 discussion on Terra, and more
The decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem continues to struggle with the ongoing market volatility and after-effects of the Terra ecosystem collapse. Over the past week, major DeFi protocols showed signs of increased trading activity, with Uniswap breaching the $1 trillion trading volume mark. Terra remained the focus of most of the discussions around blockchain and crypto at the World Economic Forum (WEF), with analysts suggesting Terra was offering unsustainable yields. DeFi insurance protocol to pay out millions after Terra collapse, while interest in Ethereum Name Services (ENS) shattered new records. Top DeFi tokens by market cap had a mixed week of …
Regulation / May 28, 2022
Could Russia lead Eastern Europe’s crypto boom?
Not unlike many other jurisdictions around the world, Russia has come to recognize the potential benefits and risks flowing from cryptocurrencies by taking its first step to define and codify digital assets. The new Russian legislation dubbed “On Digital Financial Assets” sets a clear direction for the treatment of cryptocurrencies by authorities and how both individuals and businesses can handle them in everyday practice. Nevertheless, the new legislation may give pause to payments companies and fintech companies keen on expanding into the Russian market. While the approach of the Russian legislature toward cryptocurrencies — or digital assets, as they are …
Technology / Sept. 6, 2020
The ICO Collapse Taught Projects How to Avoid Reprisals, MEW Founder Says
The boom of the initial coin offerings defined the blockchain industry in 2017 and the first half of 2018 as capital flowed to finance many new projects and the associated services. Ahead of Ethereum’s five year anniversary, Cointelegraph interviewed Kosala Hemachandra, the founder of MyEtherWallet. As he revealed, the surge in activity in 2017 turned the one-man operation — started 10 days after Ethereum’s launch — into a serious software company. MyEtherWallet was at the time among the most popular and user-friendly wallets, and it had complete support for ERC-20 tokens — vital for engaging with ICOs. The most well-known …
Regulation / Aug. 4, 2020