A federal judge has refused a joint request from Gemini and the CFTC to vacate the exchange's $5 million settlement. The ruling keeps the existing judgment in place even though the regulator has shifted its approach to crypto enforcement.
US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected a joint motion by Gemini and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to vacate a consent judgment entered in January 2025. The unusual request came from the exchange and the very agency that brought the original case.
The settlement arose from allegations that Gemini misled the regulator during its review of a proposed Bitcoin futures product in 2017. Gemini agreed to pay a $5 million penalty and accepted a permanent injunction.
The CFTC later reconsidered the enforcement case as its digital asset priorities evolved, and it joined Gemini in asking the court to revisit the settlement. Usually an exchange disputes a regulator's allegations. Here, both parties wanted relief from the earlier judgment.
But a change in enforcement policy does not automatically erase a final court order. The judge found that the arguments presented did not satisfy the legal standards for reopening the settlement.
For Gemini, little changes in the immediate term. The settlement remains in effect, and the court has not imposed a new fine.
The decision matters for other crypto businesses hoping a more accommodating federal environment might undo past enforcement outcomes. Courts keep control of their judgments, even when an agency changes its view of a case.
Source: NewsBTC
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