Gemini to Pay $5 Million in Settlement for False Statements on Bitcoin Futures
Date: 2025-01-07 Author: Gabriel Deangelo Categories: BUSINESS
On January 6, 2025, Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange founded by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, agreed to pay a $5 million fine to resolve allegations that it made false statements while evaluating its Bitcoin futures product. The agreement resolves a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The agreement was submitted to the Southern District of New York, where a consensus order was proposed to settle all claims against Gemini. According to Bloomberg, the move will allow the company to avoid a civil trial, which was scheduled for January 21. The lawsuit stems from a CFTC lawsuit filed in 2022 that accused Gemini of making false or misleading statements while pricing its bitcoin futures product.
The CFTC alleged that from July to December 2017, the company made false statements about how susceptible its purported bitcoin futures contract was to manipulation. The lawsuit also alleged that Gemini entered into undisclosed agreements with certain market participants, such as market makers, to incentivize trading on its platform. These agreements were not publicly disclosed or posted on the company’s website.
As part of the settlement, Gemini agreed to pay a fine of $5 million and to not make false or misleading statements in the future. The company neither admitted nor denied the allegations.
The conflict between Gemini and the CFTC is part of the agency’s broader efforts to crack down on wrongdoing in the cryptocurrency industry. In 2024, the CFTC reported recovering more than $17 billion in civil fines, restitution, and settlements in various cases against cryptocurrency companies that violated U.S. commodity trading laws.
