CFTC Steps Up Crypto Enforcement, Sues Exchange Gemini for ‘False’ Statements

Gemini “made false or misleading statements” to the CFTC in 2017 in the bitcoin futures contract evaluation, according to the agency

by Jocelyn Yang /

June 2, 2022 04:54 pm

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, co-founders of Gemini | Source: Shutterstock

The CFTC filed a complaint against Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss’ Gemini for making false or misleading statements in the bitcoin futures contract evaluation in 2017
Earlier Thursday, Gemini said it would lay off 10% of its workers due to the crypto market downturn

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued cryptocurrency exchange Gemini Thursday in the regulator’s latest escalation against what it considers bad actors in the digital assets industry.

In a lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York, the CFTC claimed the company’s founders, brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, in 2017 “made false or misleading statements” to the watchdog during the exchange’s application for bitcoin futures contracts — which the CFTC said could have been susceptible to market manipulation.

Newsletter

Subscribe to The Breakdown

In a statement, the CFTC said it will seek disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, monetary penalties and injunctions relating to registration and trading and against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act.

“This enforcement action sends a strong message that the Commission will act to safeguard the integrity of the market oversight process,” said Gretchen Lowe, the CFTC’s acting director of enforcement.

Earlier Thursday, Gemini said it would lay off 10% of its workforce due to the crypto market downturn.

In a statement, a Gemini spokesperson said the company has been a “pioneer and proponent of thoughtful regulation since day one,” adding the exchange looks forward to “definitively proving this in court.”

Bitcoin futures contracts began trading on the Cboe Futures Exchange at the end of 2017 based on Gemini’s auction price for bitcoin.

Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.
0xResearch: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst.
Empire: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.
Forward Guidance: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.
The Drop: Apps, games, memes and more.
Lightspeed: All things Solana.
Supply Shock: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.

Tags

Newsletter

The Breakdown

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Digital Asset Summit 2025

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

buy tickets learn more

recent research

Research

ZORA: Fundamental Divergence

We believe that few tokens at the application layer are diverging more from fundamentals than ZORA. Its fully-diluted P/S sits at 90x, pricing significant growth despite a consistent decline in weekly revenues since late July. We foresee an 80% decrease in protocol net margins due to a recent update to the fee structure that reduces trading fees from 3% to 1%, while boosting creators’ portion of the fee split. ZORA’s supply overhang also represents a near-term headwind, with 45% of ZORA’s supply (4.5B tokens or $350M at current prices) earmarked for the team & investors beginning to unlock on October 23, 2025 (36-month linear vesting schedule).

by Carlos Gonzalez Campo