Gemini Drops $10M in Bitcoin Into Trump PAC While CFTC Case Still Pending 💰

Gemini Trust Company, the cryptocurrency exchange co-founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, sent two Bitcoin contributions totaling more than $10 million to the MAGA Inc. Super PAC on June 19, according to the PAC's July Federal Election Commission report filed Monday. The donation arrived roughly three weeks after the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a joint motion with Gemini in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York seeking to reverse a January 2025 settlement that had assessed $5 million against the exchange over alleged false or misleading statements. A CFTC spokesperson told Cointelegraph in June that both sides "agreed that the $5 million penalty will not be returned to Gemini" if the court grants the motion.

CFTC Chair Michael Selig, a Republican confirmed by the US Senate in December 2025, said at the time of the joint motion that the agency under former US President Joe Biden had "politically targeted" the Winklevosses through enforcement actions. Cointelegraph reached out to the CFTC and Gemini's counsel, Avi Perry, for comment on the $10 million contribution but did not receive an immediate response. No decision has been posted to the public docket since attorneys filed the joint motion in May.

The Winklevoss brothers previously each donated $1 million to Trump's 2024 election campaign. After Trump took office in January 2025, the twins attended the signing ceremony for the GENIUS Act stablecoin payments bill, backed his sons' crypto mining venture American Bitcoin, and contributed $21 million in Bitcoin to the Digital Freedom Fund PAC to "support President Trump and his administration's efforts" on crypto policy. As of June 30, MAGA Inc. reported receiving more than $397 million in total.

Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to Selig in June calling the joint motion for reversal and related actions "concerning signs of a CFTC beholden to political pressures and interests of the wealthy insiders, unbound by the rule of law and failing to protect investors and market integrity." Crypto companies have spent $189 million so far on the 2026 US election cycle, according to a separate report cited by Cointelegraph.

Selig remains the sole CFTC commissioner at an agency that typically operates with a bipartisan slate of five members, and the Trump administration has not announced additional nominations. Lawmakers have urged the White House to fill the seats as Congress considers the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act.