CFTC chair alleges Gemini crypto exchange was politically targeted
The head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said a flawed enforcement action against it had been corrected. Gemini Space StationThe crypto exchange run by the Winklevoss brothers claims it is caught up in a broader campaign against the crypto industry under the Biden administration.
“The Biden administration has weaponized federal agencies against the crypto industry and many other sectors,” Michael Selig said in a CNBC “Squawk Box” interview on Tuesday. “They politically targeted people like the Winklevoss twins, and that is unacceptable. We are righting those wrongs. We will make a fresh start. The agency should not be used to get involved with the law.”
“I won’t get into the facts because this is an active process. [litigation] … What’s important here is, to the extent that the agency has been used to target people politically, we’re turning that around and starting fresh,” he added. “This won’t happen again. “This cannot happen again under my administration or any future administration.”
The comments were the first since the top derivatives regulator asked a federal judge in New York last week to vacate a January 2025 ruling against the exchange; former CFTC chairman Tim Massad called it “very unusual.” The decision includes a $5 million fine and an injunction banning the company from operating. make false statements to the agency. It was implemented in the final weeks of President Joe Biden’s administration.
These remarks are the latest sign of the Trump administration’s effort to roll back Biden-era crypto enforcement actions.
The case began in 2022, when the CFTC filed a lawsuit against Gemini for what the company alleged. False or misleading statements It approached regulators in 2017 while seeking approval for a bitcoin futures product. He alleged that Gemini misrepresented how susceptible to manipulation the bitcoin futures contract would be.
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss were among the largest individual crypto donors to President Trump’s 2024 election campaign.
The Winklevoss sisters and Biden immediately responded to CNBC’s request for comment.
