DCG Asks Judge To Throw Out Gemini Lawsuit

Barry Silbert's Digital Currency Group (DCG) has requested the court to dismiss the lawsuit filed last month by crypto exchange Gemini, concerning funds owed by DCG's Genesis to Gemini's Earn customers.

Gemini's Earn program allowed the exchange's customers to earn up to 8% on their crypto deposits, with DCG's Genesis being the lending entity behind it. Genesis incurred huge losses during the the 2022 bear market, and in November 2022 said it was "temporarily" halting withdrawals. It later filed for bankruptcy, owing over a billion dollars to Earn users.

In July, the Winklevoss twins threw down an ultimatum for repayment that Barry Silbert ignored. A lawsuit followed.

This Is Personal

Silbert's submission to the court seeks to put a very different light on the episode to the way the Winklevii characterize it. While Gemini has sought to show Silbert as dishonest, and acting fraudulently towards both Gemini's Earn customers and his own investors, he flips that narrative around. DCG tweets:

"The lawsuit is a baseless continuation of Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss’ year-long Twitter-based character assassination and public relations campaign to deflect blame from their own mismanagement."

Silbert aims to highlight the twins' own shortcomings, saying that their effort is simply a "PR campaign wrapped in a lawsuit."

"DCG looks forward to moving past this ridiculous lawsuit as we continue working towards our mission of accelerating the development of a better financial system."

Gemini's lawsuit, and their publicity around it, pointed the finger squarely at Silbert, and made much of what they perceived to be his personal character flaws as well as business failings—claiming that Silbert was even worse than Sam Bankman-Fried.

Court Of Public Opinion

Whatever the judge decides, Silbert and DCG will have a difficult time winning over Gemini's 230,000 Earn customers, who are collectively owed $1.2 billion: An average of over $5,000 each. Twitter reacted negatively to DCG's post, with users using the opportunity to angrily demand their money back.

Others were unimpressed with both Gemini and DCG, drawing attention to the fact that many of the largest players in the crypto space had let their users down over the past couple of years.

Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter.