CFTC, Gemini File Joint Motion to Reverse $5M Settlement

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and crypto exchange Gemini  jointly filed a motion for relief from judgment Thursday, seeking to undo a January 2025 consent order that the regulator now says “should not have been filed.”

The unusual volte-face stems from a case that began in June 2022, when the CFTC sued Gemini for allegedly making false or misleading statements about Bitcoin futures contract manipulation risks. The exchange, founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, settled the charges in January 2025 with a $5 million civil penalty and permanent injunction.

In Thursday’s motion filing, the CFTC acknowledged the original complaint was largely based on a whistleblower’s account “known to be lacking in credibility,” calling the exchange a “fraud victim.” The regulator stated that there were “serious questions” about the strength of the evidence against Gemini, adding that personnel “improperly influenced the CFTC’s regulatory authority to create settlement leverage.”

The reversal comes after changes at the top of the regulator. Michael Selig was appointed as CFTC Chair in December 2025, following the White House’s withdrawal of Brian Quintenz’s nomination in September.

Quintenz, a former CFTC commissioner and Trump’s original nominee for Chair of the agency, had suggested the Winklevoss twins opposed his nomination because he wouldn’t commit to a public position on the agency’s enforcement action against their exchange.

Gemini had vigorously contested the CFTC’s enforcement approach, filing a letter of complaint with the CFTC Inspector General in June 2025 alleging that it was the victim of an abusive investigation and “lawfare.”

The exchange maintained throughout the case that it was being unfairly pursued despite being a victim of the manipulation it had reported to regulators.

The regulatory reversal comes as Gemini pivots its business towards the emerging prediction market space, following sweeping layoffs and its exit from the UK, European and Australian markets.

The company’s Gemini Titan subsidiary was approved as a Designated Contract Market and launched its predictions marketplace in December 2025. In May 2026, Gemini Olympus received a DCO license from the CFTC to act as a clearinghouse for regulated derivatives trading including prediction markets.

At the time of the layoffs, Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss outlined a thesis that “prediction markets will be as big or bigger than today’s capital markets,” a sector that the CFTC has aggressively pursued its right to regulate over that of state gaming authorities.