Gemini wins arbitration, cleared of liability for the collapse of its Earn lending program.

According to CNBC, cryptocurrency platform Gemini secured a legal victory in August, with an arbitrator ruling that the exchange did not mislead users and was not liable for the collapse of its Earn lending program. The lawsuit was filed by a user of the Earn lending program in late 2024. The ruling found insufficient evidence to prove Gemini lied to customers or was negligent in its due diligence of its primary lending partner, Genesis Global Capital. Launched in 2021, the Earn program allowed users to earn annual returns of up to 7.4% by lending out their cryptocurrencies. Under the program, Gemini lent assets to institutional borrowers with Genesis acting as an intermediary. However, Gemini suspended withdrawals from the Earn program in November 2022, angering some of its over 300,000 users. The move came shortly after Genesis paused new loans and redemptions amid a liquidity crisis triggered by the 2022 crypto market downturn. Following the Earn withdrawal freeze, multiple customers filed legal complaints against Gemini. The New York Attorney General also sued Gemini over the Earn program, and reached a $50 million settlement with the company in 2024. In February 2024, Gemini announced it had reached a "principal settlement" with Genesis and other creditors in Genesis' bankruptcy case. Three months later, Earn users received $2.18 billion in digital assets in kind, equivalent to 97% of the total digital assets owed to Earn users — $1 billion more than the amount available when Genesis suspended withdrawals in 2022.