The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday charged the cryptocurrency lender Genesis Global Capital and the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini Trust with offering unregistered securities through a program that promised investors high interest on deposits.

The S.E.C. said that Genesis, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, and Gemini, which is run by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, had raised billions of dollars of assets from hundreds of thousands of investors without registering the program, which was called Gemini Earn.

By doing so, Genesis and Gemini bypassed “disclosure requirements designed to protect investors,” Gary Gensler, the S.E.C. chair, said in a statement. He added that the charges should “make clear to the marketplace and the investing public that crypto lending platforms and other intermediaries need to comply with our time-tested securities laws.”

Genesis did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gemini had no immediate comment.

The S.E.C.’s action against Genesis and Gemini is part of the fallout of cryptocurrency markets melting down last year. A crash in the prices of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin last spring led to a domino effect, with crypto hedge funds such as Three Arrows Capital and other crypto companies declaring bankruptcy. In November, FTX, a major cryptocurrency exchange run by the entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, also collapsed after the crypto equivalent of a bank run.