The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, (CFTC), was established on June 2, 2022. Gemini was the first to initiate an actionThe crypto exchange created by the billionaire twins Tyler Cameron Winklevoss. Among other things, the complaint alleges that Gemini made a number of false and misleading statements to the CFTC in connection with the potential self-certification of a futures contract, the prices for which were to be settled daily by an auction (the “Gemini Bitcoin Auction”). TheComplaintThe CFTC stated that the statements were made to confuse the commission about whether or not the Bitcoin futures contract was susceptible to manipulation.

While the Winklevoss brothers were not named in the suit, the complaint alleges that “Gemini officers, employees and agents […]Had reasonable knowledge of the contents and information communicated. […] were false or misleading.” These are serious accusations, considering that CFTC’s third and twelfth core principles Require markets involved in derivative trading, including those seeking to offer Bitcoin futures contracts, to have policies and practices ensuring that “contracts [are] not readily subject to manipulation” and that they offer reasonable “protection of market participants.”