Crypto
Winklevoss twins’ exchange seek dismissal of SEC lawsuit over Gemini Earn
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May 26 (Reuters) – An exchange run by the twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss on Friday asked a U.S. judge to dismiss a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit claiming it illegally sold unregistered securities in a program that promised high interest rates to hundreds of thousands of investors.
Gemini Trust Co’s request was filed in Manhattan federal court, in response to the SEC’s Jan. 12 civil lawsuit against the exchange and the cryptocurrency lender Genesis Global Capital LLC, a unit of Digital Currency Group.
The SEC had sued over Gemini Earn, which let customers lend crypto assets such as bitcoin to Genesis, with Gemini taking an agent fee as high as 4.29%.
According to the regulator, the program let Gemini and Genesis raise billions of dollars of crypto assets, before Genesis halted withdrawals last November in the wake of the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
The SEC said Genesis held $900 million of assets from about 340,000 Gemini Earn customers. Gemini and Genesis were accused by the regulator of having bypassed disclosure requirements meant to protect investors.
In Friday’s filing, Gemini said the loan agreements among itself, Genesis and customers were neither sold nor traded on secondary markets, and did not transfer title to assets, and therefore did not qualify as securities.
“Accordingly, there was no requirement that any party register it with the SEC,” it said.
The SEC declined to comment.
Genesis’ lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but have said they will also seek a dismissal.
The SEC has been cracking down on cryptocurrency markets since Gary Gensler became its chair in 2021.
He said in January that the case against Gemini and Genesis helps “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.”
The case is SEC v Gemini Trust Co et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 23-00287.
Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in Chicago; Editing by David Gregorio
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
David Schwartz, the Chief Technology Officer of Ripple Labs, recently shared details about his investment in Ethereum during the project’s initial coin offering (ICO) in 2014.
The disclosure came in response to a community inquiry regarding Schwartz’s past involvement with Ethereum. Schwartz clarified that his decision to participate in the ICO stemmed primarily from his friendship with Vitalik Buterin, a co-founder of Ethereum. He explained that Buterin invited him to contribute to the ICO, and Schwartz, wanting to support his friend’s venture, sent 20 BTC.
Schwartz emphasized that his investment was made without extensive research or a focus on potential financial returns. His primary motivation was to support Buterin’s vision for Ethereum, a project he believed held promise for the future of blockchain technology. In exchange for his 20 BTC, Schwartz received 40,000 ETH tokens.
A Look Back at the Ethereum ICO
Public records support Schwartz’s account. The Ethereum ICO took place over 42 days in mid-2014. Early investors were able to acquire 2,000 ETH for 1 BTC, which at the time translated to roughly $0.31 per ETH. However, the exchange rate between ETH and BTC fluctuated throughout the ICO, with the price per ETH increasing as the token sale progressed.
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A Missed Opportunity, But Still a Profitable Investment
Schwartz ultimately sold his 40,000 ETH tokens when their combined value reached $40,000. This transaction represented a successful 222.58% return on his initial investment after a two-year holding period.
However, the story could have been significantly different. Had Schwartz held onto his ETH tokens for an additional year, they would have appreciated considerably. By 2015, the value of Ethereum had skyrocketed, and Schwartz’s initial investment of $12,400 could have been worth a staggering $4 million.
Schwartz’s experience serves as a reminder of the unpredictable nature and inherent volatility of cryptocurrency investments. While his early involvement in Ethereum proved to be profitable, it also highlights the potential for significant missed gains. The story he shared also underscores the role that personal relationships can play in investment decisions.
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Crypto
If You Bought Your Mom $100 In Bitcoin, Dogecoin And Ethereum Last Mother's Day, Here's How Much She'd Have Today
Roses are red, violets are blue, flowers are overrated, does Mom want crypto from you?
If you’re struggling with what to get your mom for Mother’s Day, a gift of cryptocurrency is an option.
Here’s a look back at the historical returns of several cryptocurrencies on Mother’s Day last year.
What Happened: The approval of Bitcoin ETFs by the SEC earlier this year has brought more attention to the cryptocurrency sector and led to rebounding prices.
This means that, if you bought you mom crypto for Mother’s Day last year, she might be extra happy to see you this year.
Certainly, flowers and a card are always a thoughtful option for Mother’s Day and offer a more stable gift choice compared to the periods of high volatility often seen in the cryptocurrency market.
Mother’s Day was designated an official holiday by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914 and is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. Last year, Mother’s Day was celebrated on May 14, 2023. Here’s a look at how an investment and gift in three leading cryptocurrencies at that time would be worth now.
Related Link: Mother’s Day 2024: Heartfelt Ways To Make Mom’s Day Special, No Matter The Distance
Investing $100 in Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum: Here’s how much a $100 investment in each of Bitcoin BTC/USD, Dogecoin DOGE/USD and Ethereum ETH/USD could have bought on May 14, 2023.
Bitcoin: 0.0037 BTC
Dogecoin: 1,377.75 DOGE
Ethereum: 0.0548 ETH
Investing $100 in each cryptocurrency last Mother’s Day would be worth the following based on prices at the time of writing:
Bitcoin: $226.33
Dogecoin: $199.60
Ethereum: $160.67
A $300 gift consisting of the three well-known cryptocurrencies would be worth $586.60 today, a gain of 95.5%.
Compare that return to a loss of 33.4% from Mother’s Day 2022 to Mother’s Day 2023 and a loss of 51% from Mother’s Day 2021 to Mother’s Day 2022.
Of course those who bought their moms cryptocurrency back on Mother’s Day 2020 would have a different story to tell.
A $100 investment each in Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Ethereum on Mother’s Day 2020 would have been able to buy the following amounts and now would be worth the following:
Bitcoin: 0.0104 BTC, $636.16
Dogecoin: 38,270.19 DOGE, $5,544.28
Ethereum: 0.4727 ETH, $1,385.89
The $300 investment or gift to mom on Mother’s Day 2020 would be worth $7,566.33 today and up 2,422.1%.
This article was previously published by Benzinga and has been updated.
Read Next: If You Invested $1,000 In Bitcoin When Donald Trump Said The Crypto’s Value Was ‘Based On Thin Air,’ Here’s How Much You’d Have Now
Photo: Shutterstock
But this basic truth of investing seems to be getting lost in today’s world of short attention spans and instant gratification.
Nowhere is this more prominent than in the risky (yet rewarding) world of crypto assets, where speculative trading overpowers fundamentals-based investing and drives up overall volatility across the asset class.
Crypto Tracker
Most view crypto as a means of getting rich quickly and are on the lookout for the next BTC, ETH, SOL, or even DOGE and SHIB, with the promise of multi-bagger returns, and over-compressed timeframes.At the very core of this greed for quick exponential returns from crypto, is the difference in mentality of evaluating the asset with the lens of an investor vs a trader. The same user might have the “patience of an investor” when deploying capital in equities for the long term but would seek quick returns from his “trading bets” in crypto. This approach is being fuelled due to the lack of knowledge about the underlying fundamental value that a crypto asset might hold. Just like equities have various valuation models, even crypto assets can be valued based on novel metrics like using network fees as a proxy for cash flow. But most users continue to trade crypto like “penny stocks” and do not view it as an investment for long-term wealth creation.In fact, investing in crypto for a longer time horizon could be akin to early-stage venture investing, where the upside potential on investments can grow exponentially over time. Great examples would be Ethereum (in 2014) and Solana (in 2020), which had their public token launches at less than $1 and are currently trading above $3,000 and $140. The other approach is to let time do its magic because just like other asset classes, the power of compounding can create outsized returns and reward the patience of crypto investors. There’s a term for this amongst Crypto Natives: HODL or Hold On for Dear Life. The idea is that if you have taken a high conviction position in a fundamentally strong project and continue to hold that position over periods of high price volatility, you will be rewarded with exponential gains.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
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