Gemini's Winklevoss Demands Sacking of DCG Chief

Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss has demanded the removal of Digital Currency Group (DCG) CEO Barry Silbert, escalating a bitter public spat that started lasted week, after Winklevoss wrote an open letter to Silbert accusing him of “bad faith stalling tactics" and claiming that DCG owes Gemini a total of US$1.675 billion.

In another open letter on Tuesday, this time addressed to the board of DCG, Winklevoss called for the sacking of Silbert, citing DCG's inability to find a suitable resolution with creditors of Genesis.

This is another desperate and unconstructive publicity stunt from @cameron to deflect blame from himself and Gemini, who are solely responsible for operating Gemini Earn and marketing the program to its customers.
— Digital Currency Group (@DCGco) January 10, 2023

"He has proven unfit to run DCG and unwilling and unable to find a resolution with creditors that is both fair and reasonable," Winklevoss wrote.

"As a result, Gemini, acting on behalf of 340,000 Earn users, requests that the Board remove Barry Silbert as CEO, effective immediately, and install a new CEO, who will right the wrongs that occurred under Barry's watch. Genesis lenders, including Earn users, have been seriously harmed and deserve a resolution for the recovery of their assets," he added.

Last week, Winklevoss stated that Silbert had until January 8 to find a solution for the recovery of the assets, to which Silbert responded by saying that the amount cited by Winklevoss (US$1.675 billion) was inaccurate.

The showdown continues

Winklevoss' latest barb at Silbert prompted a response from DCG on Twitter, who described Winklevoss' opinions as a "publicity stunt" for him to deflect blame from himself and Gemini.

Following Winklevoss' statement, Silbert also penned a letter to DCG shareholders and provided a written Q&A, in which he reaffirmed the company's commitment to "build a better financial system."

"Looking ahead to 2023 and beyond, the industry has a lot of hard work to do to re-establish its credibility and reputation, which have been all but destroyed by a wave of unprecedented fraud and criminal behavior unlike anything I’ve seen in my career. This is going to be a challenging year for all of us, but I remain optimistic," Silbert wrote.

Genesis is currently embroiled in a dispute with crypto exchange Gemini – it owes users of the Gemini Earn program some US$900 million. It was the program's exclusive yield source and sent a lot of those funds on to DCG, which bought some mixture of GBTC and DCG stock.

On Thursday, Coindesk reported that Genesis has laid off almost a third of its workforce, which now stands at 145 employees. The report said that Genesis's sales and business-development departments "have been especially hard hit."