First mover Americas: Gemini sued over interest-earning product

Crypto exchange Gemini is being sued by investors over the sale of its interest-earning crypto products, court filings from Tuesday show. The exchange abruptly halted its Gemini Earn program in November, "effectively wiping out" investors who still had holdings, according to the court filing. The investors say Gemini's Earn program – which offered interest of up to 7.4% to customers for lending their crypto assets – didn't register those assets as securities in accordance with U.S. law. They are seeking a trial by jury, according to the complaint.

Several tokens held by Sam Bankman-Fried’s embattled trading business Alameda Research were sold late on Wednesday to the tune of millions of dollars, as the firm's founders face criminal charges. On-chain data cited by Arkham Intelligence suggested $1.7 million worth of tokens from Alameda-linked wallets was sold in the open market over a span of several hours on Wednesday. The sales triggered concerns on Crypto Twitter about a potentially steep fall in the prices of those tokens.

China is launching its first state-backed non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, the latest sign of embrace for a technology that has occupied a legal gray area within the country’s notoriously strict regulations on cryptocurrency. A ceremony celebrating the launch of the marketplace will be held in Beijing on Jan. 1.