Crypto Lender Genesis Files for Bankruptcy

Digital Currency Group subsidiary Genesis Global Capital has filed for bankruptcy protection. It owes over $3.5 billion to its top 50 creditors

$3.5 Billion in Liabilities

After months of uncertainty, Genesis has finally capitulated.

Troubled crypto lending firm Genesis Global Capital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Shortly after filing for bankruptcy, the firm published a list of its top 50 creditors, which include such names as Gemini, Cumberland, Mirana, and MoonAlpha Finance. Other large creditors have had their names redacted. According to the document, Genesis Global Capital owes over $3.5 billion to the creditors on that list. 

The company estimated its assets and liabilities between $1 billion and $10 billion, while Genesis Global Holco—Genesis Global Capital’s parent company—and its subsidiary Genesis Asia Pacific marked their own assets and liabilities in the $100 million to $500 million ranges, respectively.

Originally impacted by the Terra collapse and Three Arrows Capital’s subsequent wipeout, the crypto lender froze loan originations and redemptions in the immediate aftermath of the FTX implosion, on November 16, citing extreme market dislocation.

As a consequence, crypto exchange Gemini was forced to end its Earn program, which offered Gemini customers the opportunity to lend their crypto assets to Genesis at a healthy interest rate. Thereafter, Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss began publishing open letters on Twitter aimed at Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert, accusing him of defrauding Gemini Earn customers. Genesis functions as a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group.

Following the news of Genesis’ bankruptcy filing, Winklevoss took to Twitter again, threatening to sue Silbert and Digital Currency Group if they failed to “come to their senses and make a fair offer to creditors.”

Disclaimer: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH, and several other crypto assets.