Digital Currency Group’s Bad 2023 Gets Worse

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• The Digital Currency Group has endured a rocky start to 2023, and it’s got worse
• The group has shuttered its wealth management division while one of its companies, Genesis, has cut 30% of its workforce
• The group is experiencing huge financial pressures

The Digital Currency Group isn’t having a great year. 2023 was just a couple of days old when Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss publicly outed one of its companies, Genesis, for withholding $900 million it holds on behalf of Gemini Earn customers, and things have got worse mere hours later – the group has confirmed that it has closed its wealth management division, HQ, citing “the broader economic environment and prolonged crypto winter”, while Genesis itself has announced a 30% staff cut.

Digital Group Trying to Keep its Plates Spinning

Things were already looking bleak for the DGC and its CEO Barry Silbert, which is struggling for cash after the ravages of the crypto winter and in particular the crypto contagion that all started with the collapse of Three Arrows Capital in May last year.

Several of the companies in its stable are struggling, including, it seems, its wealth management division HQ, which the group said yesterday is being shuttered at the end of the month (one can only assume there isn’t much wealth left to manage).

The DGC confirmed the closure of HQ to Bloombergessentially saying that it was redundant in the current market but didn’t rule out a return in better conditions:

Due to the state of the broader economic environment and prolonged crypto winter presenting significant headwinds to the industry, we made the decision to wind down HQ, effective January 31. We’re proud of the work that the team has done and look forward to potentially revisiting the project in the future.

Genesis Cuts 60 Jobs

This news came on the same day that troubled platform Genesis announced that it was cutting 60 jobs, equating to 30% of its workforce. This won’t please Cameron Winklevoss, because it means there are fewer hands on deck to scrabble down the back of the sofa for the $900 million that Genesis owes Gemini.