Genesis / Gemini Earn
A crypto lending program in which Gemini customers lent assets to Genesis for yield. After Genesis froze withdrawals in November 2022, ~340,000 Earn investors were locked out of ~$900M. The SEC charged both firms in January 2023; Genesis later went bankrupt and settled for $21M.
Also known as: Genesis, Genesis Global Capital, Gemini Earn, Gemini
Summary
Gemini Earn was a yield program (launched February 2021) through which customers of the Gemini exchange lent their crypto to Genesis Global Capital in exchange for interest. [1][2]
What happened
In November 2022, amid market turmoil following the FTX collapse, Genesis halted withdrawals, saying it lacked sufficient liquid assets. At that point it held about $900 million in crypto from roughly 340,000 Gemini Earn investors, who were locked out of their funds. Genesis filed for bankruptcy in January 2023. [1][2]
Enforcement and outcome
On January 12, 2023, the SEC charged Genesis and Gemini with the unregistered offer and sale of securities through the Earn program. In 2024 Genesis agreed to a $21 million SEC penalty; Gemini reached separate settlements (including with New York regulators). In January 2026 the SEC dismissed its case against Gemini, citing a "100 percent in-kind return" of Earn investors' assets. [1][2][3]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Sources (3)
See also
Gala Games exploitTokensOn May 20, 2024 an attacker abused a privileged minter account on the GALA token contract to mint 5 billion GALA (≈$200M+ nominal) and dumped ~600M of them for ~$22M of ETH before Gala froze the address. Gala Games called it an internal access-control failure; the attacker later returned the ~$22M.
HEX / PulseChain (Richard Heart)ProjectsCrypto projects (HEX, PulseChain, PulseX) created by Richard Heart (Richard Schueler). In July 2023 the U.S. SEC sued him for offering unregistered securities that raised $1B+ and for allegedly misappropriating ~$12M for luxury goods (including a 555-carat diamond). A court dismissed the case in 2024 for lack of U.S. jurisdiction; there was no finding of wrongdoing and Heart denies the allegations.
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.
