Following the FTX and Genesis scandals, Gemini Earn users will receive three times the value of the funds held in the lending product.
Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange, revealed on Wednesday that it will be returning $2.18 billion in cryptocurrency to creditors. Earn users previously in bankruptcy limbo have recovered 232% of their costs through the in-kind reimbursement.
Genesis, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG), Gemini’s loan partner, was caught up in the 2022 crash of FTX. More than 230,000 users of the Earn product had over $940 million in withdrawals effectively halted by the instability.
Due to a public court dispute in which Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss accused Genesis, DCG, and DCG CEO Barry Silbert of misleading investors, Genesis filed for long-term bankruptcy.
New York authorities charged all three companies, and in February, the cryptocurrency exchange agreed to pay $37 million in fines and retrieve $1.1 billion for Earn investors.
The company claimed in the refund statement that instead of being a cryptocurrency issue, their problem with Genesis “was old-fashioned financial fraud compounded by a lack of regulatory clarity.”
In an unusual move to demonstrate good faith, the exchange provided $50 million to guarantee the recovery of Earn users in the event of bankruptcy. Several other troubled companies from the 2022 black swan year of cryptocurrency are also completing arrangements for repaying creditors.
After requesting Chapter 11 protection, the FTX estate anticipates recovering up to 142% of consumer funds and paying all of its creditors. This will take into consideration the fluctuations in cryptocurrency prices.
