Crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG) recorded over a billion dollars-worth of losses in 2022.
According to a CoinDesk report on Monday, DCG was relieved of $1.1 billion last year due to deteriorating market conditions and a default from now-defunct hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.
As of December 31, 2022, DCG stated in its fourth-quarter investor report that company had $5.3 billion in total assets. Of this total, $670 million came from venture investments and grayscale trust shares, and $262 million came from cash and cash equivalents.
The firm’s Q4 revenue was $143 million, with $24 million in losses. Its equity valuation holds at $2.2 billion, with a price per share of $27.93.
In the report, DCG stated that “this appraisal is generally consistent with the sector’s 75%-85% decline in equity values over the same period.”
The conglomerate’s lending subsidiary Genesis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January, weeks after it stopped withdrawals and new loans due to contagion effects following the FTX implosion. The lender cited “unprecedented market turmoil” following the spectacularly fraudulent collapse of FTX exchange.
Genesis has also been caught in a public conflict with Gemini exchange over a $900 million which it owed to the exchange’s Earn users, a yield-generating product. Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss called out DCG CEO Barry Silbert for supposedly using “bad faith stall tactics” regarding the issue.
After several months of ambiguity, DCG and Genesis reached a tentative agreement with Genesis’ creditors to fulfil its debt commitments. The agreement involves Genesis winding down its loan and refinancing operations, with DCG providing $500 million in cash and another $100 million in BTC. Gemini agreed to fork out another $100 million for Earn users.
Crypto bank Silvergate, which is part of Digital Currency Group, faced an $8.1 billion bank run following the FTX scandal and was forced to sell assets at a loss, wiping $718 million in the process. The firm also faces a class action lawsuit, and has come under fire for its relationship with FTX fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF).
