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Judge keeps Gemini’s $5 million CFTC settlement in place

A Manhattan judge has kept Gemini’s $5 million CFTC settlement in place, ruling that a later shift in enforcement policy does not justify reopening the case.

Onchain Report Newsroom#736f772 min read

Judge keeps Gemini’s $5 million CFTC settlement in place

A federal judge in Manhattan has rejected a joint request by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Gemini to undo their $5 million settlement. The ruling leaves the 2025 court order in place, even though the regulator now says it would not have brought the case under its current enforcement standards, according to Reuters’ report on the decision.

What did the CFTC and Gemini ask the judge to change?

They asked Judge Alvin Hellerstein to vacate the order’s remaining forward-looking terms. Gemini had already paid the $5 million penalty, and the parties said it would not be refunded. The order also permanently bars Gemini from making false or misleading statements or omissions to the CFTC, according to The Block’s report.

The CFTC joined Gemini’s request in May 2026 after reviewing the investigation and its handling. In its announcement, the agency said the complaint should not have been filed and would not have been brought under its current standards. It cited concerns about the evidence and the investigation’s tactics. Those are the agency’s findings, not a new ruling on the original allegations.

Why did Hellerstein reject the request?

The judge said the parties had not shown a sufficient reason to reopen the judgment. The concerns raised in their request involved facts that existed before the settlement, The Block reported, rather than a significant change in circumstances after it.

Gemini had litigated the case for more than three years before agreeing to settle shortly before trial, Reuters reported. Hellerstein said the CFTC’s changed view of the case did not, on its own, require the court to set the settlement aside.

What was the original case about?

The CFTC sued Gemini in 2022 over statements it said the exchange made during the agency’s review of a proposed bitcoin futures contract. Futures are contracts tied to an asset’s price at a later date. Gemini settled in January 2025, three weeks before trial was due to begin, The Block reported.

The ruling keeps both the paid penalty and the court’s ongoing restrictions in place. The CFTC and Gemini had sought to end the remaining terms without recovering the money.

Sources