The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a consent order against Gemini Trust Company LLC, imposing a permanent injunction and ordering a USD 5 million civil monetary penalty for violations of the Commodity Exchange Act, including materially false or misleading statements or omissions to the CFTC. The order addresses statements Gemini made to the CFTC from around July to December 2017 in connection with a designated contract market’s potential self-certification of a bitcoin futures contract that would settle based on a spot bitcoin price determined through an auction run by Gemini. The court found that, during the self-certification process, Gemini reasonably should have known certain statements or omissions were false or misleading and material to the CFTC’s assessment of whether the contract would be susceptible to manipulation, including representations about a “prefunding requirement” and cost of capital to trade in the auction, “full reserve” status, self-trading prevention, fee rebates, and trade volume and liquidity. The consent order follows the CFTC’s July 2, 2022 complaint against Gemini.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission 2025-01-13
Commodity Futures Trading Commission obtains SDNY consent order requiring Gemini Trust to pay USD 5 million for misleading statements tied to bitcoin futures certification
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced a U.S. District Court consent order against Gemini Trust Company LLC, imposing a permanent injunction and a USD 5 million civil penalty for violations of the Commodity Exchange Act. The violations involved materially false or misleading statements to the CFTC during the self-certification process of a bitcoin futures contract. The order follows a CFTC complaint filed on July 2, 2022.