- Barry Silbert yesterday announced that Digital Currency Group has paid down over $1 billion in debts
- The payments include more than $700 million owed to Genesis
- This positive development alleviates pressure on DCG, previously rumored to face bankruptcy, but questions and concerns still remain for creditors
Barry Silbert, CEO of Digital Currency Group (DCG), revealed yesterday that the company is making huge progress in paying off its debts, including over $700 million to Genesis. Silbert took to X to proclaim that DCG has “completed a payoff of all short-term loans from Genesis,” and has, in total, paid off more than $1 billion of debt to its creditors. The news will ease the pressure on DCG, which not too long ago was allegedly facing bankruptcy, and represents a welcome development for customers of the Gemini platform, who may finally be on the verge of getting some of their money back.
2023’s Crypto Soap Opera
The DCG/Genesis/Gemini battle was a headline drama of 2023, with accusations and threats flying between the parties as the year went on. It began last January when Genesis declared bankruptcy, revealing liabilities exceeding $3 billion, an action that locked over a billion dollars of Gemini customers’ money on the platform.
The financial turmoil left DCG indebted to Genesis by over $1.65 billion, which resulted in Genesis taking its parent company to court. Throughout 2023 DCG put forward solutions that it hoped would appease both Genesis and Gemini, but ended up missing payments. This led to the planned drawing up of a repayment agreement, but these were savaged by Gemini and Genesis.
2024 to See Series Finale?
It seems that, after a year of acrimony, 2024 might be the year in which the whole thing is finally settled, with DCG fining a billion dollars down the back of the sofa and starting to pay its dues:
I’m happy to share that @DCGco completed a full pay down of the money borrowed from Genesis
We have now repaid over $1 bn of debt, including this ~$700 mm, despite the headwinds faced by the industry
I’m excited about the industry’s next chapter and DCG’s leadership role in it https://t.co/Jlbu3Zs7Xl
— Barry Silbert (@BarrySilbert) January 5, 2024
Silbert’s excitement was not matched by DCG’s creditors, however:
Only problem with that is the #Gemini creditor claims were dollarized so #GeminiEarn got scammed out of their #Bitcoin gains & they were used to pay off his #DCG bad debt by holding out for the #BTC #ETF approval & halving.
Not cool.
— Simon Dixon (@SimonDixonTwitt) January 5, 2024
In the words of Winston Churchill, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”