Genesis CEO asks for patience from clients amid Gemini pressure

Genesis Trading, the cryptocurrency brokerage and lender that halted customer withdrawals in the aftermath of FTX collapse, believes it can sort out its financial problems. However, it needs more time in order to accomplish this, the troubled crypto lender’s interim CEO Derar Islim said.

According to CoinDesk, a crypto publication which like Genesis is owned by Digital Currency Group, Islim asked for patience from clients via a letter sent on Wednesday, 4 January.

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Gemini co-founder slams Genesis parent company

On what next for the crypto brokerage’s customers and other across the industry, Islim wrote:

“While we are committed to moving as quickly as possible, this is a very complex process that will take some additional time.”

He added that Genesis was working with parent company DCG and various client groups towards the recovery of user assets.

As we previously reported, Genesis Trading’s lending arm Genesis Global Capital paused all redemptions and new loan originations last November. DCG announced the halt, with the move taken as the crypto market suffered another blow after the shocking collapse of a then major cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

One of the major partners of Genesis Trading was crypto exchange Gemini, which had funds of thousands of customers of its Earn program on the lender. Genesis’s halting of withdrawals accordingly saw over $900 million of Gemini Earn customers frozen.

On Monday, Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss penned an open letter in which he accused DCG founder and CEO Barry Silbert of deliberately frustrating the effort to help impacted customers by hiding “behind lawyers, investment bankers and process.”