The Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped its lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, founded by twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.
The Winklevoss twins were donors to Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and also supported his family’s business ventures.
In a joint filing Friday, the SEC and Gemini asked the court to dismiss a lawsuit centered on the collapse of an investment product called Gemini Earn, which left some investors without access to their funds for 18 months.
New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Gemini in 2023, accusing the company of defrauding investors. In justifying the SEC’s dismissal of the case, the new filing points to a 2024 settlement between New York and Gemini in which investors will ultimately receive “100 percent of the crypto assets they loaned (…) through the Gemini Earn Program.”
This appears to be a larger pattern of leniency towards the crypto industry by the Trump administration. The New York Times previously reported that when President Trump took office last year, the SEC dismissed, suspended, or reduced the penalties in more than 60% of pending cryptocurrency cases.
Gemini has also applied for listing.