Autor: dot-traders

• The US SEC is accusing Gemini and Genesis of selling unregistered securities.
• Genesis and Gemini did not register their partnership as a lending partnership.
• Genesis has been having liquidity issues after FTX’s collapse and has paused withdrawals to date.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against Genesis and Gemini accusing the two of selling unregistered securities through the Gemini Earn product.

According to the SEC, the Gemini Earn allowed Gemini and Genesis to earn billions of dollars from investors despite the product being unregistered.

Unregistered lending partnership

Gemini introduced the Gemini Earn product in February 2021 and the product ran until January 8 2022.  At the same time, Gemini had a partnership with Genesis, which is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG). The partnership allowed Gemini customers to earn yield by lending their crypto assets to Genesis.

The SEC however claims that the two firms (Genesis and Gemini) misrepresented their business model by advertising returns of up to 8% to clients without first registering the partnership as a lending partnership with the relevant authorities.

Genesis withdrawals

To make matters worse, Genesis found itself in turmoil after the FTX’s collapse and even paused withdrawals due to liquidity issues. According to open letters written by Cameron Winklevoss, the co-founder of Gemini Earn, Genesis currently owes $900 million to 340,000 users of the Earn product.

The SEC also claims that the “US retail investors who participated in the Gemini Earn program have suffered significant harm.” The SEC Chair Gary Gensler said:

“Today’s charges build on previous actions to make clear to the marketplace and the investing public that crypto lending platforms and other intermediaries need to comply with our time-tested securities laws.”

Gemini co-founder has however said that Gemini will defend itself saying that SEC claims are “parking ticket.”

The post US SEC has filed charges against Gemini and Genesis appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Crypro.com CEO cited poor market conditions and recent events in the industry as reasons for layoffs.
• The layoffs come just days after Coinbase announced similar layoffs.
• The Cronos (CRO) token price has responded positively to the news.

The co-founder and CEO of Crypto.com exchange, Kris Marszalek, has today announced that the company is laying off some of its staff to reduce its global workforce. The CEO said that they are reducing the workforce by 20%.

In the announcement, the CEO said:

“Today we made the difficult decision to reduce our global workforce by approximately 20%.”  

In a follow-up tweet post addressing the matter, Marszalek wrote:

“We grew ambitiously at the start of 2022, building on our incredible momentum and aligning with the trajectory of the broader industry. That trajectory changed rapidly with a confluence of negative economic developments.”

Crypto firms laying off workers in mass

According to sources, Crypto.com has about 3500 to 4500 employees, meaning the 20% layoffs would affect about 700 to 900 employees.

Crypto.com is not the only crypto firm to announce layoffs this year. Huobi announced layoffs at the start of the year while Coinbase also announced layoffs a few days ago.

The laying off of workers sends mixed signals since the crypto market is currently on a recovery trajectory and investors are expecting some good performance this year compared to last year. Crypto.com has also grown to over 70 million users worldwide, something that is seen as a positive development for the company.

Cronos (CRO) token price surge

The Cronons (CRO) token price has responded positively to the news and risen by about 3.08% in the last 24 hours.

The CRO coin has been on a positive trajectory since the start of the year having gained about 15.3% over the past 14 days.

The post Crypto.com announces layoffs, cites negative economic developments appeared first on CoinJournal.