A cryptocurrency wallet related to Genesis Trading has transferred nearly $720 million worth of Bitcoin to the Coinbase exchange during the past month, pointing to the potential start of asset liquidations.
The Genesis Trading-labeled wallet has transferred over 12,600 Bitcoin (BTC) during the past 30 days, worth $719.9 million, mainly in transactions of 500 to 700 BTC.
The address currently holds 33,356 Bitcoin, down from over 46,000 BTC a month ago, on June 12, according to Arkham Intelligence data.
The multi-million Bitcoin transfers come two months after Letitia James, the attorney general for the State of New York announced that her office reached a settlement with Genesis, requiring the firm to pay $2 billion to defrauded investors over its Earn program.
The settlement requires the funds to be returned to Genesis investors and bans the company from operating in New York.
Genesis traders could be made whole
The Genesis Trading-labelled address could indeed be preparing to start repaying users, based on the amount of assets and recent transfers to centralized exchange (CEX) Coinbase.
The wallet currently holds a total of $2.28 billion worth of cryptocurrency, with $1.91 billion of Bitcoin as the biggest holding, followed by $364 million worth of Ether (ETH).
The amount surpasses the $2 billion in digital assets that the platform was ordered to pay to the defrauded investors of its Earn program.
On June 14, The New York Attorney General’s office announced that it had recovered more than $50 million from Gemini which will be returned to investors in the exchange’s Earn program.
The settlement banned Gemini from operating any cryptocurrency lending program in New York state, and James said on X that “everyone that Gemini deceived will get their money back.” Gemini Trust said that affected Earn users could expect “100% of the assets owed to them” within seven days.
The Genesis saga
The New York Attorney General’s office filed its lawsuit against Genesis in October 2023, later expanding it to include the Digital Currency Group, its CEO Barry Silbert, and former Genesis CEO Soichiro Moro.
The lawsuit alleged that Gemini had defrauded 230,000 investors — including New York residents — through its Earn program with Genesis Global Capital, failing to disclose its risks.
The New York AG also filed a lawsuit against former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky for allegedly hiding the platform’s “dire financial condition.” Mashinsky currently faces criminal charges in the Southern District of New York related to securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud and is expected to go to trial in January 2025.