Billionaire bitcoiners Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are using their own money to support their crypto exchange Gemini Trust Co., which has faced numerous setbacks during the market downturn for digital assets.
The brothers provided the loan after trying to get outside investment for Gemini, Bloomberg said, citing anonymous sources.
“The $100 million figure stands out in part because that equals the amount Gemini agreed to give some of its customers as part of the Genesis bankruptcy case,” noted CoinDesk.
Genesis, which is owned by Digital Currency Group (DCG), froze withdrawals in the aftermath of FTX's collapse last year, a decision that locked up money for customers of Gemini's Earn Yield product. As part of a February settlement DCG reached with creditors, Gemini said it would contribute up to $100 million to Earn users.
However, CoinDesk clarified that at this stage it's not clear if the $100 million loan and $100 million Earn commitment are related.
Meanwhile, Blomberg cited a person familiar with the matter as saying the Winklevoss loan won't go toward that, but rather to fund operations. The twins made the loan after trying to raise external funds, added the financial news agency.
At the height of the crypto winter in June last year, the Winklevoss twins announced that they were laying off at least 10% of the workforce at Gemini, a first for the US-based cryptocurrency exchange and custodian.
Gemini, which has been around since 2014 and is valued at $7.1 billion as of its last funding round has 1,033 people on its payroll at the time, according to PitchBook.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive