Genesis Global to Return $3 Billion to Customers in Bankruptcy Liquidation

On Friday, Crypto lender Genesis Global received court approval to refund approximately $3 billion in cash and cryptocurrency to its customers as part of a bankruptcy liquidation process, as reported by Reuters.

This decision left its owner, Digital Currency Group (DCG), with no recovery from the bankruptcy. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane endorsed Genesis’ Chapter 11 liquidation plan and dismissed an objection raised by DCG.

The objection argued that Genesis should only pay its customers and creditors based on the valuation of crypto assets in January 2023, when Genesis filed for bankruptcy. Since then, crypto prices have surged significantly, leading to disagreement between DCG and Genesis regarding who should benefit from the price increase.

Lane rejected DCG's objection, emphasizing that even if customer claims were restricted to lower prices, Genesis would first need to settle obligations with other creditors, including federal and state financial regulators with asserted claims totaling $32 billion, before allocating funds to DCG. "There are nowhere near enough assets to provide any recovery to DCG in these cases," Lane noted.

Genesis Global aims to reimburse customers primarily in cryptocurrency, but the available funds are insufficient to cover all owed amounts. Genesis attorney Sean O'Neal disagreed with DCG's stance that customers could be compensated "in full" based on lower cryptocurrency prices in January 2023. "We don't buy into the idea that claims are capped at the petition date value," O'Neal said.

In February, Genesis estimated that it could repay customers up to 77% of their claim value, contingent on future price fluctuations