According to the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS), Genesis Global Trading has agreed to a settlement fine of $8 million and will forfeit its New York state Bitlicense as part of the agreement over compliance failures. Adrienne Harris, the DFS Superintendent said Genesis displayed a “demonstrated a disregard for the Department’s regulatory requirements.”

Genesis Global Trading to Pay $8M, Relinquish NY Bitlicense Over Regulatory Failures

Genesis Global Trading has consented to settle an $8 million penalty for non-compliance with state financial regulations. The Department of Financial Services (DFS) discovered, through regular audits and an inquiry, that Genesis did not adhere to the Bank Secrecy Act norms, anti-money laundering (AML) protocols, and the requirements for filing suspicious activity reports (SAR). The New York state authority clarified that Genesis Global Trading operates independently from Genesis Global Capital, both subsidiaries under Digital Currency Group (DCG).

Superintendent Harris said, “DFS’s virtual currency and cybersecurity regulations are often cited as the gold standard, providing clear and stringent requirements to protect consumers and safeguard institutions from bad actors. Genesis Global Trading’s failure to maintain a functional compliance program demonstrated a disregard for the Department’s regulatory requirements and exposed the company and its customers to potential threats.”

The DFS further claimed it was the “first regulator in the world” to address Binance by ordering Paxos to stop minting the BUSD stablecoin. The regulator also mentioned the $100 million settlement with Coinbase calling it one of the “largest virtual currency settlements in the world.” In 2018, the Department authorized Genesis Global Trading to conduct virtual currency business activities in New York State. As part of the settlement, Genesis Global Trading is relinquishing its Bitlicense and is currently in the midst of winding down its operations.

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