The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CTFC) is bringing charges against the Gemini crypto exchange, alleging employees made false and incomplete statements to the agency.
In a new press release, the CFTC announced it has filed a complaint against the Gemini Trust Company in the State of New York in connection with the 2017 evaluation period of the company’s proposed Bitcoin (BTC) futures contract product.
In claiming Gemini made false statements and omissions, the CFTC “seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, injunctions relating to registration and trading, and an injunction against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).”
CFTC Acting Director of Enforcement Gretchen Lowe explains the commission’s rationale for suing Gemini,
“Making false or misleading statements to the CFTC in connection with a futures product certification undermines the CFTC’s work to ensure the financial integrity of all transactions subject to the CEA, protect market participants, deter and prevent price manipulation, and promote responsible innovation and fair competition.”
Gemini is run by the famed Winklevoss twin brothers who got their start as early Facebook developers.
In an unrelated announcement, Gemini says in a blog post the company will be letting around 10% of its employee roster go due to crypto market and macroeconomic concerns.
“We are… in the contraction phase that is settling into a period of stasis – what our industry refers to as ‘crypto winter.’ This has all been further compounded by the current macroeconomic and geopolitical turmoil.
We have asked team leaders to ensure that they are focused only on products that are critical to our mission and assess whether their teams are right-sized for the current, turbulent market conditions that are likely to persist for some time.
After much thought and consideration, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to part ways with approximately 10% of our workforce.”
The letter concludes by emphasizing a focus on innovation to help bring about the next bull cycle.
“As painful as this moment is, we ultimately see it as an opportunity to double-down on our strongest ideas and customer-centric products so that we may be the catalyst of innovation coming out of these leaner times that will help fuel the next cycle of crypto growth and adoption.”
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The post US Markets Regulator Sues Crypto Exchange Gemini Over Alleged Violations Regarding Bitcoin (BTC) Futures Product appeared first on The Daily Hodl.