SEC To Dismiss 3-Year Lawsuit Against Gemini – Details

bitcoinistPublicado em 2026-01-25Última atualização em 2026-01-25

Resumo

In a major development, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has moved to dismiss its three-year lawsuit against Gemini Trust Company with prejudice, effectively ending the legal battle over the Gemini Earn crypto lending program. The SEC had accused Gemini and Genesis Global Capital of illegally offering unregistered securities through the program, which allowed users to earn interest on crypto loans. Following Genesis's bankruptcy and the FTX collapse, all affected investors fully recovered their assets. Gemini also settled with other regulators, paying over $50 million in fines. The SEC cited these recoveries and settlements in its decision to dismiss the case permanently. This dismissal occurs amid a broader shift in US crypto regulation, including the passage of the pro-crypto GENIUS Act and ongoing legislative efforts like the Clarity Act to define digital asset oversight.

In a major development, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a joint stipulation with defendant Gemini Trust Company, LLC to terminate its long-running civil enforcement action with prejudice, effectively ending the three-year legal battle over the Gemini Earn crypto lending program.

SEC Vs Gemini

In January 2023, the SEC instituted one of the most controversial crypto-related lawsuits against Gemini Trust Company and its partner, Genesis Global Capital LLC, accusing both parties of illegally offering and selling unregistered securities through the Gemini Earn lending program, a financial product that operated between 2021 and 2022, which allowed customers to lend crypto for interest at 7.4% per annum.

Following the FTX crash in 2022, Genesis, which had a significant financial exposure to the now-defunct crypto exchange, halted withdrawals on the Gemini Earn Program, effectively locking up $940 million in investor assets. Since then, a series of events has unfolded, including Genesis entering bankruptcy proceedings, and through that process, all Earn investors ultimately recovered 100 percent of their crypto assets in kind. In addition, Gemini has settled related matters with state and federal regulators, paying over $50 million in civil fines.

In the joint stipulation filed this week, the SEC noted that its decision to seek dismissal “in the exercise of its discretion” took into account the full investor recovery and those regulatory settlements. The dismissal is with prejudice, preventing the SEC from re-filing the same claims, and represents the formal end of one of the most high-profile enforcement actions in the US crypto industry.

US Crypto Regulatory Turnaround

The dismissal of the Gemini case comes amid a broader recalibration of the US crypto regulatory approach under the Donald Trump administration. Several high-profile SEC actions against major platforms, involving Coinbase, Kraken, and Binance, have been dropped or paused, reflecting a shift from a forceful regulatory approach seen under the former chairman, Gary Gensler.

At the same time, Congress and the White House continue to pursue pro-crypto legislative and policy initiatives. In July 2025, US President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, a landmark bill establishing a comprehensive federal framework for stablecoins, aimed at boosting consumer protection and supporting broader adoption of digital assets.

Alongside the GENIUS Act, the highly anticipated Clarity Act, passed by the US House, aims to delineate regulatory responsibilities between agencies like the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) based on how digital assets function. The US Senate Agriculture Committee is set to observe a markup session of the bill on January 27, indicating steady progress despite recent concerning events, including public outrage by Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong and the Banking Committee’s continued postponement of its own hearing session.

Total crypto market cap valued at $2.97 trillion on the daily chart | Source: TOTAL chart on Tradingview.com

Perguntas relacionadas

QWhat was the main reason the SEC decided to dismiss its lawsuit against Gemini with prejudice?

AThe SEC's decision to seek dismissal 'in the exercise of its discretion' took into account the full recovery of investor assets and the regulatory settlements Gemini had reached with state and federal regulators.

QWhat was the Gemini Earn program and what were the SEC's allegations against it?

AThe Gemini Earn program was a crypto lending product that operated between 2021 and 2022, allowing customers to lend crypto for interest. The SEC accused Gemini and its partner Genesis of illegally offering and selling unregistered securities through this program.

QWhat significant event in 2022 led to the halting of withdrawals on the Gemini Earn program?

AFollowing the FTX crash in 2022, Genesis, which had significant financial exposure to the failed exchange, halted withdrawals on the Gemini Earn Program, locking up $940 million in investor assets.

QHow does the dismissal of the Gemini case reflect a broader change in U.S. crypto regulation?

AThe dismissal is part of a broader recalibration of the U.S. crypto regulatory approach, with several high-profile SEC actions against major platforms like Coinbase, Kraken, and Binance being dropped or paused, reflecting a shift from the previous forceful regulatory stance.

QWhat are the names and purposes of the two key pro-crypto legislative acts mentioned in the article?

AThe two key acts are the GENIUS Act, a comprehensive federal framework for stablecoins aimed at consumer protection and digital asset adoption, and the Clarity Act, which aims to delineate regulatory responsibilities between the SEC and CFTC based on how digital assets function.

Leituras Relacionadas

Over $31 Million Stolen from Humanity, Is the Team Behind It Paving the Way for a New Project?

The article reports a major security incident involving Humanity Protocol (H), resulting in over $31 million stolen. The team attributes the hack to a private key leak from a Humanity Foundation member, leading to a rapid sale of H tokens and a 90% price drop. However, prominent on-chain investigator ZachXBT suggests the event might be an "exit scam" orchestrated by the team, rather than an external hack. This suspicion is fueled by the team's controversial history, including past management failures, legal issues, and previous scandals like outsourced technology and problematic airdrops. Further investigation reveals that the core team behind Humanity is already involved with a new project called "Everything," which recently secured funding. This has led to community speculation that the alleged hack is a deliberate scheme to abandon the H project while shifting focus and resources to their new venture, leaving investors to bear the losses. The article questions whether this is a genuine security failure or a premeditated "rug pull" strategy.

Odaily星球日报Há 45m

Over $31 Million Stolen from Humanity, Is the Team Behind It Paving the Way for a New Project?

Odaily星球日报Há 45m

SoftBank's Son, Bankrupted by Good Stories, Awaits His Next Alibaba

Masayoshi Son is back. After years defined by Vision Fund's massive losses and costly missteps like WeWork—which shattered market confidence and led to billions in write-downs—Son has found redemption through AI. His early, high-conviction bets are paying off handsomely. Arm, acquired for $32 billion in 2016 and once a heavily leveraged burden, has become a gold mine amid the AI compute boom, delivering roughly a 10x return for SoftBank after its 2023 IPO. More crucially, SoftBank has made an enormous, concentrated bet on OpenAI, committing over $64 billion for a roughly 13% stake. This investment is already showing massive paper gains, contributing significantly to SoftBank's soaring valuation and propelling Son back to the top as Asia's richest person. The narrative has shifted from the "fool" who fell for grandiose stories to the visionary who endured a brutal downturn and is now being rewarded for his early faith in artificial intelligence.

marsbitHá 1h

SoftBank's Son, Bankrupted by Good Stories, Awaits His Next Alibaba

marsbitHá 1h

WeChat Agent Issues a 'Heroic Summons,' Half of the Internet Responds

WeChat AI Agent is on the horizon. The WeChat Open Platform has issued a guide for developers, offering them ways to integrate into the WeChat AI ecosystem. This will enable mini-programs to be discovered and invoked by the AI. Meituan has already announced its integration, allowing users to access services like food delivery through WeChat AI. Other platforms like Ctrip and Tongcheng have followed suit. Furthermore, WeChat is collaborating with major smartphone manufacturers to enable their native AI assistants to perform actions within WeChat, such as initiating calls or sending messages, through a controlled protocol called Agent-to-Agent (A2A). Reports indicate the WeChat AI Agent will be accessible by swiping right on the main interface. It aims to understand user intent within the rich context of chats, groups, and past interactions, then automatically call upon relevant mini-programs to complete tasks like ordering coffee or booking restaurants. This positions it as a potential "super app" with direct access to WeChat's vast ecosystem of services, social connections, and payment systems. Technically, this is a complex endeavor. It requires advanced natural language understanding, a "world model" to predict interactions within mini-programs (UI-Oceanus), multi-model orchestration for cost efficiency, and careful coordination with millions of third-party service providers. Tencent's development follows a "Co-Design" approach, where product teams and the Hunyuan model team collaborate closely, allowing capabilities honed in other AI products (like Yuanbao for chat, ima for search, WorkBuddy for office tasks) to be transferred to the WeChat Agent. Tencent is strategically opting for the A2A protocol over GUI-based automation (which it has blocked in the past), maintaining control over its ecosystem. To manage the immense scale and cost of serving 1.4 billion monthly active users, Tencent is deepening its ties with DeepSeek, known for its cost-effective training, to secure a low-cost inference backbone. The ultimate goal is to solve practical, everyday problems for users within the WeChat ecosystem, moving beyond technical benchmarks to deliver real utility, which Tencent sees as the key to winning in the long-term AI game.

marsbitHá 1h

WeChat Agent Issues a 'Heroic Summons,' Half of the Internet Responds

marsbitHá 1h

Strategy Erases Last Week’s Bitcoin Sale With 1,550 BTC Purchase

Strategy, a major Bitcoin treasury firm, has made a substantial purchase of 1,550 BTC for approximately $101 million. This acquisition completely offsets the company's sale of 32 BTC just one week prior, which had negatively impacted market sentiment. Following this buy, Strategy's total Bitcoin holdings have reached a new record of 845,256 BTC. The company's leadership, including Chairman Michael Saylor and CEO Phong Le, emphasized their ongoing strategy to accumulate Bitcoin over time. Concurrently, Strategy added $100 million to its USD reserve, bringing its total to $1 billion, to ensure dividend payments. The purchase was reportedly funded through sales of the company's stock. Meanwhile, U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs experienced a fourth consecutive week of net outflows, totaling $1.72 billion last week. Bitcoin's price is currently around $63,400, reflecting a nearly 12% decline over the past seven days.

bitcoinistHá 1h

Strategy Erases Last Week’s Bitcoin Sale With 1,550 BTC Purchase

bitcoinistHá 1h

Humanity Loses $31 Million in Attack, Token Price Plummets 90% Due to a Single Private Key

On June 9th, the digital identity project Humanity Protocol suffered a major security breach resulting in over $31 million in losses. According to on-chain analyst Specter, hundreds of wallets holding the project's H token were drained. The attack was confirmed by founder Terence Kwok to be caused by the compromise of a foundation member's private key. As a precaution, users are advised to avoid interacting with Humanity's cross-chain bridge or liquidity pools. The incident caused the H token price to crash over 90%, from around $0.70 to a low of $0.052, wiping its market cap from $2 billion to approximately $35.7 million. The attacker allegedly minted 100 million new H tokens and is selling them for BNB. This breach adds to existing controversies surrounding Humanity Protocol. Founded in 2024, it aimed to verify human users via palm-print biometrics and zero-knowledge proofs. However, a leaked conversation in 2025 revealed that only about 1 million of its 9 million claimed Human IDs had completed biometric verification, suggesting 88% might be bots. Furthermore, the project has faced allegations of being a repackaged product from a Chinese access control vendor, raising privacy and authenticity concerns. Founder Terence Kwok's previous venture, Tink Labs, a hotel smartphone startup that raised $170 million, failed and entered bankruptcy in 2020 after burning through its funding. The current attack highlights the persistent critical issue of private key management in crypto. Unlike smart contract exploits, a private key compromise bypasses all on-chain security mechanisms. With no user compensation plan announced yet, this $31 million breach may be a final blow to the project's credibility, already weakened by previous controversies and a heavily depreciated token.

marsbitHá 1h

Humanity Loses $31 Million in Attack, Token Price Plummets 90% Due to a Single Private Key

marsbitHá 1h

Trading

Spot
Futuros
活动图片

Categorias popularesright-arrow

Etiquetas Popularesright-arrow