A federal judge has refused to tear up Gemini’s $5 million settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, even though both the exchange and the regulator asked him to.
On 15 October, US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York denied a joint motion from Gemini and the CFTC to vacate the consent order.
Where the case came from
The CFTC charged Gemini in 2022 with making false or misleading statements to the regulator about a proposed Bitcoin futures product.
Gemini agreed to the $5 million consent order in January 2025, about three weeks before the case was due to go to trial.
Why both sides wanted it gone
The CFTC’s enforcement priorities have shifted since the deal was signed.
In a filing in May, Gemini and the CFTC jointly argued that the original enforcement effort had violated principles of fair enforcement. The motion also pointed to misconduct allegations against the agency’s enforcement division. Those allegations have not been proven.
What the judge said
Hellerstein rejected both arguments. He found that neither a change in the CFTC’s enforcement priorities nor the misconduct allegations was enough to reopen a settled case.
“Neither of these two grounds is sufficient to support vacating the settlement,” he wrote.
He also noted that Gemini had signed the deal about three weeks before trial.
What stays in place
The permanent injunction remains. It bars Gemini from making false or misleading statements to the CFTC and from publicly denying the settlement’s findings.
The CFTC has said it will no longer enforce that gag-style provision. Gemini has already paid the $5 million, and it will not be refunded.
What happens next
The ruling shows the limits of a regulator’s change of direction. An agency can choose to stop bringing cases, but a court will not necessarily undo a deal that has already been signed and approved.
Neither party’s next step had been announced at the time of writing.
