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- 1 Winklevoss twins tried raising money from outside but ended up loaning $100M to Gemini.
- 2 SEC had sued Gemini Earn program regarding unregistered securities.
Media reported that the Winklevoss twins poured $100 Million in Gemini to fight the market plunge. Tyler and Cameron provided this loan to their crypto platform after trying to raise money from outside. However, Gemini’s spokesperson did not respond to a media request for comment.
Gemini Gets a $100 Million Brace
This $100 million loan is crucial as it is the same amount Gemini promised to give a few of its customers in the Genesis bankruptcy case. Genesis is owned by the Digital Currency Group (DCG), and after the FTX saga was unveiled, they halted the withdrawals. This step inadvertently locked customers’ money in Gemini’s Earn yield product.
While Genesis was recovering from bankruptcy, DCG agreed to a settlement in February 2023 to sell its subsidiary, including its crypto trading business and lending arm. Genesis’ attorney said the company had made a pact with the creditors. At the same time, Gemini is said to contribute around $100 million to Earn users.
Notably, no data is available to relate the $100 Million loan and $100 Million Earn commitment.
A Brief About Gemini Crypto Exchange and Winklevoss Twins
Founded in 2014 by the Winklevoss twins, Gemini Trust Co. LLC. is a privately owned cryptocurrency exchange facilitating the buying, selling, & trading of more than 60 cryptocurrencies. Interestingly the crypto exchange offers a tiered service, separate for casual investors and dedicated traders. Their stablecoin, the Gemini dollar, is linked to the US Dollar.
Gemini supports trading in more than 120 cryptocurrencies. Since its inception in 2014, the crypto exchange has added a payment app, an interest-paying savings account, a trading platform, and a credit card.
The Winklevoss twins are the company’s majority shareholders. The twins are well known for a $65 million settlement with Mark Zuckerberg, claiming that Facebook was originally their idea and was stolen by him. The incident was also referred to in the movie “The Social Network.” the twins were believed to be studying with Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard University.
Gemini went live for US customers in October 2015 and went international by mid-2016 when they expanded in Canada and the UK. They soon started operations in Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan to cater to the Asian market. Right now, they operate in around 60 countries worldwide.
In January 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed against Genesis Global Capital and Gemini regarding the selling and offering unregistered securities, which were facilitated through the Gemini Earn crypto lending program. Gemini terminated their Earn program a day after the case filing due to some disputes with crypto lender Genesis.
The partnership between Genesis and Gemini came into existence in February 2021, bringing the Gemini Earn program to offer its customers a yield of up to 8%. Genesis would take Gemini users’ crypto for further investments and then return the portion after deducting the agent fee of around 4%. The SEC filing with the Manhattan federal court said that Genesis failed to register this product as a securities offering.
Genesis’ exposure to not bankrupt FTX created troubles for Gemini, as most of the assets were stuck in the scenario. The crypto market suffered greatly after the FTX saga, and the contagion effect spelled trouble for multiple crypto entities.
Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while pursuing his post-graduation major in blockchain development. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing, along with coding. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing skills, and a reliable craft at explaining the concepts such as blockchain programming, languages and token minting. He also frequently shares technical details and performance indicators of ICOs and IDOs.
