SEC Drops Investigation Into Gemini Without Charges

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SEC’s Latest Drama: No Charges for Gemini, But Winklevoss Wants Blood! 💸😱

So, the SEC has decided to drop its long-running investigation into Gemini today, and guess what? No charges! 🎉 This week alone, they’ve been on a roll, dropping three other investigations like they’re hot potatoes and closing active lawsuits like it’s a clearance sale.

But hold your horses! Co-founder Cameron Winklevoss isn’t exactly throwing a confetti party over this. Nope! He’s suggesting that the SEC should face some serious penalties to keep them from pulling another Gensler-style crypto crackdown in the future. Because, you know, nothing says “trust us” like a good ol’ threat! 😏

No Charges for Gemini

The SEC, which is basically the big boss of US financial regulators, has been on a dropping spree lately. In just the last week, they’ve dropped investigations against Opensea, Robinhood, and Uniswap. It’s like they’re trying to win a game of “who can drop the most investigations.”

And today, Cameron Winklevoss announced that the SEC has also decided to close the investigation into his firm. Surprise, surprise! 🎊

“On Monday, the SEC informed our litigation counsel that it has closed its investigation into Gemini and will not be pursuing an enforcement action against us. While this marks another milestone to the end of the war on crypto… it does little to make up for the damage this agency has done to us, our industry, and America,” Winklevoss tweeted, probably while sipping a latte and rolling his eyes.

Winklevoss claimed that the SEC sent Gemini a Wells Notice under a year ago, but surprise, surprise, no formal charges ever came out of it. Classic SEC move! 🙄

Recently, the Commission has been dropping legal battles faster than I drop my phone when I see a spider. They’ve settled with Coinbase and are preparing an agreement with Tron in a civil fraud case. And let’s not forget, they’re still stalling their long-running suit against Ripple, but hey, it’s technically still active! 🎭

But none of these “let’s be friends” gestures seem to have moved Winklevoss much. Last month, Gemini had to cough up a $5 million fine to the CFTC, and the SEC slapped its business partner Genesis with a whopping $38 million fine. Ouch! 💰

In today’s statement, Winklevoss took a rather spicy stance towards the regulators responsible:

“How many years of innovation were kicked down the road at the expense of Americans? We will never know. Unless there is a cost and price to be paid for this behavior, it will happen again. Everyone involved in these actions should be fired immediately and in a public way. Their names, roles, and the actions they participated in should be posted,” he said, probably while shaking his fist at the sky.

Some of his other suggestions include making the SEC pay Gemini 3x the cost of its legal bills, banning its employees from employment at federal agencies for life, and other “serious consequences for bad faith actors.” Because why not? Let’s throw in a little drama! 🎭

For Winklevoss, the SEC’s investigation into Gemini is an outright policy failure that must be ferociously corrected. Like, get the pitchforks out, folks! 🔥

This whole situation plays into a fundamental dilemma that the crypto industry is facing now that it’s got a bit of political clout. The SEC was a powerful opponent under Gensler, but now it’s like they’re trying to be the cool aunt.

Under new leadership, they’ve shown downright enthusiasm for making new regulations. In other words, they could be a powerful tool moving forward. Or a powerful pain in the neck. Who knows? 🤷‍♀️

So here’s the dilemma: should crypto try to use the Commission or destroy it? For Gemini and Coinbase, the SEC under Gensler was like a bad breakup, so destruction seems preferable. But hey, putting pro-industry Commissioners at the helm was a major accomplishment. It may be shortsighted to throw away years of work. Or maybe it’s just a Tuesday in crypto-land! 🤔

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2025-02-27 03:18