A new report claims that the parent company of crypto broker Genesis is considering selling venture capital assets to pay back creditors.
With Genesis more than $3 billion in debt, the Financial Times reports that Digital Currency Group (DCG) is mulling selling parts of their venture capital holdings, worth up to $500 million, to help make up the difference.
“DCG, a conglomerate that controls crypto media outlet CoinDesk and investment manager Grayscale, is seeking to raise fresh cash after its Genesis unit was wrongfooted in November by the collapse of FTX.
As part of its efforts, DCG is considering offloading parts of its venture capital holdings, which include 200 crypto-related projects such as exchanges, banks and custodians in at least 35 countries, and is worth about $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter.”
DCG and Genesis have both declined to officially comment on the report. The Financial Times story cites anonymous sources “familiar with the matter.”
Genesis halted customer withdrawals in November 2022 when it was caught up in the collateral damage of the FTX implosion.
Over the past two weeks, Gemini founder Cameron Winklevoss has written two open letters blaming DCG founder Barry Silbert for the collapse of the Gemini Earn program, which was powered by Genesis.
Under the Earn program, Gemini partnered with Genesis to provide traders with up to 8% returns on their holdings. However, earlier this month Genesis announced that FTX’s collapse greatly affected its finances and it could no longer pay out investors of Gemini’s Earn program.
In response to Winklevoss’s most recent open letter asking the DCG board to fire Silbert, the DCG Twitter account defended Silbert and their group.
“This is another desperate and unconstructive publicity stunt from [Winklevoss] to deflect blame from himself and Gemini, who are solely responsible for operating Gemini Earn and marketing the program to its customers.
We are preserving all legal remedies in response to these malicious, fake, and defamatory attacks.
DCG will continue to engage in productive dialogue with Genesis and its creditors with the goal of arriving at a solution that works for all parties.”
Two days ago, Silbert responded to the Gemini founder in a letter to DCG shareholders. In the letter, Silbert asserted that the past year has been the most difficult one of his life personally and professionally.
“Bad actors and repeated blow-ups have wreaked havoc on our industry, with ripple effects extending far and wide. Although DCG, our subsidiaries, and many of our portfolio companies are not immune to the effects of the present turmoil, it has been challenging to have my integrity and good intentions questioned after spending a decade pouring everything into this company and the space with an unrelenting focus on doing things the right way.”
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