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Customers of crypto firm Winklevoss will get back triple the value of their frozen assets
Joseph Nair/Bloomberg/Getty Images/File
Tyler Winklevoss, left, and Cameron Winklevoss launched crypto exchange Gemini in 2014.
CNN New York —
Customers of crypto platform Gemini can expect to recover more than three times the value of their digital assets that were trapped in the FTX fallout – a rare outcome for creditors involved in a bankruptcy.
Gemini, the exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, said Wednesday it achieved a 232% payback for customers who participated in its lending program, Earn, a third-party partnership that halted withdrawals as unrest continued. are taking over the crypto markets in November 2022.
More than 230,000 Gemini customers lost access to approximately $940 million in digital assets. For a year and a half, crypto has made a comebackbringing the value of the frozen funds to $2.18 billion.
“We are delighted to have been able to achieve this recovery for our customers. We recognize the difficulties caused by this lengthy process and appreciate the continued support and patience of our customers throughout,” Cameron Winklevoss, president of Gemini, said in a statement.
Gemini agreed in February to return at least $1.1 billion to loan program customers and pay a $37 million fine for unsafe and unhealthy practices. part of a regulation with the New York Department of Financial Services.
Wednesday’s announcement explains the crypto’s appreciation in value, adding over $1 billion to the total.
If, for example, a customer lent a bitcoin through the Earn program, they can now expect to receive a bitcoin in return.
The moment FTX imploded, causing chaos in the crypto markets, bitcoin fell precipitously to around $17,500. A year and a half later, one bitcoin costs just under $70,000.
Winning customers can expect to receive the balance of their remaining assets over the next 12 months, Gemini said.
Customers of FTX, once the second-largest crypto exchange on the planet, are also expected to be restored, with interest, thanks in part to the growing value of FTX’s crypto holdings and the smart bets on artificial intelligence it was able to liquidate.