Digital Currency Group (DCG), a venture capital firm, has informed shareholders that it will be halting its quarterly dividend payments for the time being in order to preserve liquidity.
In a letter sent to shareholders on January 17th, the firm stated that it is focused on “strengthening our balance sheet by reducing operating expenses and preserving liquidity.”
The financial issues at DCG stem from the struggles of its subsidiary, crypto broker Genesis Global Trading, which reportedly owes creditors over $3 billion. DCG is also considering selling some assets within its portfolio.
Customers of Genesis have been unable to withdraw funds since November 16th, when the firm halted withdrawals.
This has led to calls for the removal of Barry Silbert as CEO of DCG by Cameron Winklevoss, who represents the exchange Gemini and its users with funds on Genesis.
In an open letter on January 10th, Winklevoss stated that Genesis owes Gemini $900 million for funds that were lent to Genesis as part of Gemini’s Earn program.
He also claimed that DCG owed $1.675 billion to Genesis, although this was denied by Barry Silbert, the CEO of DCG.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) added to the controversy by charging both firms with offering unregistered securities through the Earn program on January 12th.
The problems at Genesis first became apparent on November 16th, when it halted customer withdrawals due to “unprecedented market turmoil” which resulted in “abnormal” levels of withdrawals.
On November 10th, Genesis revealed that it had around $175 million stuck on FTX, which prompted DCG to provide Genesis with an emergency equity infusion of $140 million in an effort to resolve its liquidity issues.
