An arbitrator ruled earlier in August that Gemini did not mislead users of its Earn lending program and was not at fault for its collapse, finding insufficient evidence that the company lied to customers or failed to conduct due diligence on Genesis Global Capital, according to CNBC, which reported viewing the ruling.
The claim was filed in late 2024 by a single Earn user. The ruling is not public.
What the Arbitrator Accepted
Gemini’s position throughout has been that it acted as an agent connecting users to Genesis rather than as the lender itself—a distinction the company made from the earliest litigation, arguing in 2023 that it had no obligation or ability to return assets loaned to Genesis.
The arbitrator appears to have accepted that framing for the liability question at hand.
That is a narrower outcome than it may appear. Arbitration decisions bind the parties to the proceeding and cannot be appealed. This one resolves one claim by one user. It establishes no rule for the other Earn claimants, and arbitrators are not bound by one another’s findings.
What Is Still Outstanding
Earn users recovered their principal. They did not recover what they were promised for lending it.
Gemini distributed more than $2.18 billion in digital assets to Earn members in May 2024, in kind, meaning a user who lent one bitcoin received one Bitcoin back. Because prices had risen since the November 2022 freeze, Gemini described the distribution as a 232% recovery against the value at the time withdrawals stopped.
The Earn program had advertised yields of up to 7.4%. Separate arbitrations over unpaid interest remain outstanding, and those are the claims that could still produce a financial outcome against Gemini.
The distinction matters for how the ruling should be read: it addresses whether Gemini was at fault for the collapse, not whether users are owed the return they were promised.
The Securities Question Was Mooted, Not Settled
The SEC sued Gemini and Genesis in January 2023, alleging Earn constituted an unregistered securities offering. Judge Edgardo Ramos declined to dismiss that case in March 2024, finding the agency had plausibly alleged violations under the Howey and Reves tests.
The SEC dismissed the action with prejudice on January 23, 2026, citing the 100% in-kind return of investor assets and related settlements and stating the decision was taken in the exercise of its discretion.
That ends the case without resolving the question. The theory that yield-bearing crypto lending products are securities was neither tested at trial nor repudiated—it became moot because users were repaid.
The Bill Gemini Already Paid
The arbitration ruling does not undo the settlements.
Gemini paid a $37 million fine to the New York State Department of Financial Services in February 2024, with the regulator citing failure to vet or monitor Genesis. The New York Attorney General expanded a fraud lawsuit to $3 billion against Gemini, Genesis, and Digital Currency Group before settling with Gemini for $50 million. Genesis separately paid $21 million to the SEC in March 2024.
Gemini also agreed to contribute between $40 million and $50 million toward the Genesis bankruptcy settlement that produced the full in-kind recovery.
Where Gemini Is Now
The company, now Gemini Space Station, listed on Nasdaq on September 12, 2025, under GEMI. Its legal exposure has since shifted from its lending past to its public-market present: investors filed a federal securities suit in March 2026 after the stock fell roughly 80% from its IPO price, following the simultaneous departure of three senior executives and wider-than-expected losses disclosed in February.
