Genesis (Company)

Basics

• Owned by Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group.

History

• Has filed for bankruptcy (20-1-2023):

"The company was battered by the fall of Three Arrows Capital and FTX and is under fire from the SEC. The company, which is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG), says that it has more than $150 million in cash on hand, which it describes as "ample liquidity" to fund operations during the restructuring process."

• Got into trouble after the FTX crash in late 2022. For a simplified timeline (22-11-2022):

November 8: "No material net credit exposure"

November 9: We lost $7M

November 10: Okay, we have $175M locked in FTX

November 16: Sorry, no withdrawals or new loans

November 17: Okay, we need $1BN

November 21: We'll go bankrupt without the money

• Genesis Global Capital, the lending arm of leading digital asset brokerage Genesis Trading, announced (16-11-2022) that it has halted withdrawals and new loans due to “unprecedented market turmoil” created by FTX’s collapse. Seemed to have had $175M locked in FTX.
• Has a BitLicence since 2018.

Investments

• Sponsored Coin Center
• Is listed as one of the investors in Fortuna
• Partners (2-4-2020) with iExec.
• Genesis CEO Michael Moro has confirmed that the crypto platform did indeed have exposure to Three Arrows Capital (7-7-2022).
• Maps.Me; part of a $50M raise together with Alameda Research and CMS (18-2-2021).
• Oxygen; part of a $40M raise together with Alameda and CMS (24-2-2021).

Team, Partners

• Michael Moro; ex-CEO, stepped down on 17-8-2022. The firm will also cut 20% of its 260-person workforce to reduce costs. Later 30% was mentioned (6-1-2023).
• Founding member of the Crypto Rating Council (9-2019).
• Genesis is a CoinDesk sister company (24-2-2021).
• Customer of Fireblocks

Creditors of Genesis

• Recognizable names among Genesis creditors (20-1-2023):

1. Gemini: $765m
2. Mirana: $151m (120M of it turned out to be collateralized positions that got already liquidated)
3. Moonalpha (Babel): $150m
4. Coincident Cap (Mex/Finex Leaderboarders): $110m
5. Decentraland: $55m
6. VanEck: $53m
7. Abra: $30m
8. Cumberland: $18m
9. Stellar Foundation: $13m