The Gemini Trust Co. LLC, the New York-based cryptocurrency exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins in 2014, has agreed to pay a $5 million civil penalty to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission over allegedly misleading statements it made about how easily the price of bitcoin futures could be manipulated.

Bloomberg first reported on the settlement. Court documents filed Monday by the exchange will avoid a trial that was set to begin Jan. 21. In the settlement, Gemini did not admit or deny wrongdoing.

Gemini acted as the price data for bitcoin value markets for the first-ever bitcoin futures contracts trading on the Cboe Futures Exchange in 2017. Gemini also provides digital asset services for cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, such as currency custody and exchange.

According to the CFTC, at the time Gemini “knew or reasonably should have known” that the statements the company gave were false or misleading regarding a proposed bitcoin futures contract product and how it could be susceptible to manipulation, according to a 2022 lawsuit filing.

The settlement was approved by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who originally rejected Gemini’s request to dismiss the lawsuit and ruled a jury should determine the outcome. Part of the settlement included an injunction against Gemini making any further false or misleading statements to the CFTC.

Gemini is among several companies facing regulatory enforcement actions in the U.S. and is currently facing a suit by the Securities and Exchange Commission over its Earn product. Using the Gemini Earn program, the SEC alleged the company illegally raised billions of dollars based on investors’ crypto assets. The company settled a lawsuit with the New York Attorney General’s office for $50 million regarding the Earn program in June.

Other notable enforcement actions include a 2023 SEC lawsuit against Coinbase Global Inc., a major cryptocurrency exchange, alleging the exchange has been operating an unregistered securities exchange. Crypto exchange Kraken also agreed to pay a $30 million fine to the SEC the same year and shuttered its crypto asset “staking” program in the U.S. Staking is a process where crypto token holders earn rewards by locking up their tokens for a set period to support a cryptocurrency blockchain network, similar to earning interest.

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