A US federal judge has declined to cancel a $5 million settlement between cryptocurrency exchange Gemini and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, leaving the January 2025 agreement in place despite the regulator’s later concerns about how its enforcement case was handled.
According to Cointelegraph, US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled on Thursday that changes in CFTC enforcement policy and allegations of misconduct within the agency’s enforcement division were not enough to undo the settlement. Gemini had already paid the penalty, and the CFTC had previously said the money would not be returned even if the agreement were overturned.
Why the court rejected the request
Gemini and the CFTC jointly asked the court on May 27 to set aside the settlement. The request followed an internal review by the agency that identified alleged problems in the enforcement process, including reliance on a questionable whistleblower, improper regulatory pressure and attempts to prevent evidence from being disclosed.
The regulator also concluded that, under its current enforcement standards, it would not have pursued the case in the same way. However, Judge Hellerstein said those developments did not provide sufficient grounds to reverse an agreement Gemini had voluntarily accepted.
The judge noted that Gemini had agreed to settle less than three weeks before the case was scheduled to go to trial. In his view, the exchange already knew about weaknesses in the CFTC’s case when it made that decision. The company later obtained additional internal agency documents, but the court found that the new material did not justify reopening the settlement.
Hellerstein also rejected arguments based on President Donald Trump’s digital asset executive order and the CFTC’s revised enforcement approach. The ruling treated those developments as changes in policy rather than a significant change in the law.
What remains in effect
The ruling preserves a permanent injunction barring Gemini from making false or misleading statements to the CFTC. The settlement also contains a restriction on publicly denying the regulator’s findings, although the CFTC said in June that it would no longer enforce that provision.
The underlying case concerned Gemini’s operation of a Bitcoin auction. The January 2025 consent order said the exchange had not disclosed that some customers traded with borrowed funds, that self-trading had taken place despite safeguards, and that certain traders received special fee arrangements.
The order also said Gemini submitted trading-volume information without explaining that some of the activity involved those practices. The dispute therefore involved both the exchange’s auction disclosures and the way the CFTC pursued its enforcement action.
Market picture
Moneyiar market data at 2026-10-17 21:43 +03:30 showed Vision (VSN) at $0.042190056. The token was down 0.37% over 24 hours and 2.7% over seven days.
The decision keeps Gemini’s financial penalty and the remaining court order intact, even as the CFTC has shifted its approach to digital-asset enforcement. Former CFTC Chair Timothy Massad previously described the regulator’s attempt to reverse a settled case as “extraordinarily unusual” and said the public deserved a better explanation.
