Genesis penalized $21M by SEC for sale of unregistered securities

Crypto firm Genesis Global Capital agreed to pay a $21 million civil penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle charges that the Gemini Earn investment program was an unregistered security offering.

The settlement, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, said the SEC penalty will be treated as an unsecured claim in Genesis’s bankruptcy case. The agency said in a press release it will not receive any portion of the penalty until the company settles its bankruptcy claims.

The SEC sued Genesis in January 2023, alleging the company and Gemini raised “billions of dollars’ worth of crypto assets from hundreds of thousands of investors” with Gemini Earn. The program allegedly constituted the offering and sale of a security but was not registered with the SEC, a violation of federal securities law.