#Gemini to Settle for $5 Million#

Gemini has agreed to pay $5 million to settle charges from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that it made misleading statements in 2017 about the ease of manipulating the price of Bitcoin futures contracts. Gemini settled without admitting or denying wrongdoing, and the trial, which was scheduled to begin on January 21, will no longer proceed. The CFTC sued Gemini in 2022, alleging that it misled U.S. regulators during in-person meetings. The settlement also includes an injunction barring Gemini from making false or misleading statements to the commission in the future. Gemini also faces a separate lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with a judge ruling in March that the SEC could sue the exchange for violating securities laws. In the absence of specific legislation for the cryptocurrency industry, U.S. regulators have sued multiple cryptocurrency exchanges, including Coinbase and Binance, for violating securities laws. Many observers see this as a sign of a tougher regulatory stance from U.S. regulators toward the cryptocurrency industry.