Tyler Winklevoss, the co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, has hit back at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charging the exchange over issuing unregistered securities, calling the allegations “super lame” and a “manufactured parking ticket.”
In a series of tweets on Jan. 12, Winklevoss expressed his disappointment over the earlier charges from the SEC for its “Earn” program, claiming the regulator was “optimizing for political points.”
Winklevoss Received a Reply From SEC
The SEC is accusing crypto companies Genesis and Gemini of selling unregistered securities. Genesis still has not released about $900 million in investor assets from 340,000 Gemini Earn investors, the SEC says.
“As a matter of background, the Earn program was regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services and we’ve been in discussions with the SEC about the Earn program for more than 17 months,” Winklevoss said in a tweet.
He added that the SEC never raised the prospect of any enforcement action until after Genesis paused withdrawals on Nov. 16, 2020. “They never raised the prospect of any enforcement action until AFTER Genesis paused withdrawals on November 16th,” Winklevoss added.
The SEC is also investigating whether other securities-law violations were committed and whether there are other companies or people relating to the alleged misconduct. Tyler stated Gemini would defend itself against the unregistered security charges and would “make sure this doesn’t distract us from the important recovery work.
