Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, led by famed billionaire twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, is reducing its headcount by an additional 10% on the heels of getting caught up in the bankruptcy of crypto lender Genesis, according to a Monday internal message viewed by The Information. In just the past eight months, Gemini made at least three rounds of job cuts in the wake of a persistent market downturn. As a testament to Gemini's close ties to troubled Genesis, both firms partnered up in February 2021 to offer Gemini Earn, a high-yielding crypto lending product. It wasn't until earlier this month when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission slapped the firms with a lawsuit for allegedly selling unregistered securities to retail investors via Gemini Earn. Of note, customers of Gemini Earn were named in bankruptcy filings as Genesis's largest unsecured creditor with over $765M in claims, the report noted. Genesis filed for Chapter 11 protection on Jan. 20. Gemini's headcount stood at 650-700 people towards the end of 2022, down from 1.1K at the start of 2022, The Information said. In June 2022, the CFTC charged Gemini over 2017 bitcoin futures case.
