Tensions between crypto magnates
Cameron Winklevoss
and
Barry Silbert
erupted into an open dispute on Twitter at the start of the new year, with Mr. Winklevoss accusing Mr. Silbert of “bad faith stall tactics” that are hurting rank-and-file customers.
The back-and-forth on Monday deals another blow to a sector struggling for credibility, especially since the collapse of FTX and its affiliated trading firm, Alameda Research. The fall of the two companies led to outflows from other crypto exchanges and the near-erasure in value of coins tied to FTX and Alameda, domino effects in a closely linked industry.
Crypto investors are closely watching the negotiations between the Gemini exchange, which was founded by Mr. Winklevoss and his brother, and the lender
Genesis
Global Capital. Last year saw the bankruptcies of multiple crypto firms, capped off with FTX. Traders are going into the new year wary of further turmoil.
Genesis, the lending unit of Mr. Silbert’s crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group, halted loan originations and redemptions on Nov. 16 after it couldn’t meet client withdrawal requests. Genesis cited the demise of FTX. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Genesis had loans outstanding to FTX’s sister trading firm.
Genesis is a lending partner of Gemini’s earn program, which allows retail users to lend out their cryptocurrencies in exchange for annual interest rates as high as 8%. Gemini paused customer withdrawals from the earn program on the same day that Genesis made its announcement. Gemini’s 340,000 earn users have deposited more than $900 million in the earn program, according to Mr. Winklevoss.
Crypto exchange Gemini has banded together with other creditors of Genesis to find a way for the crypto lender to return owed assets.
The Gemini exchange was founded by Cameron Winklevoss and his brother.
Photo:
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
In an open letter to Mr. Silbert on Monday, Mr. Winklevoss said Genesis creditors have repeatedly tried to get together with Mr. Silbert and sent multiple proposals to him, including one delivered on Christmas Day.
“Despite this, you continue to refuse to get into a room with us to hash out a resolution,” Mr. Winklevoss wrote. “Every time we ask you for tangible engagement, you hide behind lawyers, investment bankers, and process. After six weeks, your behavior is not only completely unacceptable, it is unconscionable.”
Mr. Silbert responded on Twitter, saying his company had delivered a proposal on Dec. 29 “and has not received any response.”
Mr. Winklevoss also said that Mr. Silbert’s parent company DCG owes $1.675 billion to its subsidiary Genesis. Mr. Silbert replied on Twitter that DCG didn’t borrow $1.675 billion from Genesis and is current on all loans outstanding.
Mr. Silbert said in a letter to investors in November that DCG owes Genesis about $575 million that is due in May 2023, in addition to a $1.1 billion promissory note to Genesis due in June 2032.
Earlier this year, DCG took on liabilities from Genesis after the crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital defaulted on the $2.4 billion in loans it took out from Genesis, prompting the issuance of the $1.1 billion promissory note while DCG tries to recover assets from Three Arrows’ liquidation proceedings.
Spokespeople for Gemini and DCG declined to comment beyond Mr. Winklevoss’s and Mr. Silbert’s tweets.
This isn’t the first dispute between crypto titans to spill onto Twitter in recent weeks.
Sam Bankman-Fried
of FTX and
Changpeng Zhao
of Binance sniped at each other shortly before FTX imploded in November.
Mr. Bankman-Fried is likely to appear in court Tuesday to enter his plea to fraud charges by U.S. prosecutors. He is likely to plead not guilty, the Journal reported.
Write to Vicky Ge Huang at [email protected] and Caitlin Ostroff at [email protected]
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