Gemini, Genesis Sued by SEC for Rules Breach With ‘Earn’ Program

US regulators Thursday sued crypto brokerages Genesis Global Capital and Gemini Trust Co. for breaking securities rules.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said that the firms illegally raised billions of dollars from hundreds of thousands of investors through the so-called Gemini Earn program. That product, which let customers loan out their assets in exchange for interest payments, amounted to the offering of unregistered securities, the SEC said.

Gemini launched Earn in February of 2021, with the idea of offering users passive returns on their coins in exchange for the right to lend the tokens out. By August of that year, ...