Gemini

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Gemini Trust Company
Founded	2014
Headquarters	New York, NY
Key People	Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, co-founders; Robert Cornish, CTO; Nick Vigier, CIO; Blair Halliday, Head of U.K.
Employees	200+
Products	Cryptocurrency trading platform
Twitter	@Gemini
LinkedIn	Profile
Facebook	Page
Website	Gemini.com
Releases	Company News
Blog	Gemini Blog

Gemini is a New York-based cryptocurrency trading platform founded by Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss (aka "the Winklevoss twins"). It is registered with the New York State Department of Financial Services. Gemini hosts daily auctions for Ether (the cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network), Zcash, Litecoin, and bitcoin.

History

In 2015, the New York State Department of Financial Services ("NYDFS") granted a charter under the New York banking law to Gemini Trust Company, LLC, a bitcoin exchange based in New York City and founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

Because Gemini is registered as a trust company, it is exempt from having to register with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”)*, a bureau of the U.S. Department of Treasury. It does, however, have an account with FinCEN for filing compliance reports.

In June of 2018, Gemini announced that Robert Cornish would be joining its team as its first chief technology officer. Cameron Winklevoss made the announcement on the company's blog. The story was also reported by Bloomberg in early July.

Gemini added trading services for Zcash in May 2018.

On August 20, 2018 Gemini joined Bitstamp, bitFlyer USA, and Bittrex to announce the formation of the Virtual Commodity Association Working Group.

In October 2018, Cameron Winklevoss posted on the company's blog that Jeanine Hightower-Sellitto would be joining Gemini as managing director of operations to "build the Gemini Marketplace and our (Gemini's) new Client Services Team." Also that month, Gemini announced during the Litecoin Summit that it planned to support Litecoin deposits on October 13th, and that trading would be supported starting October 16th.

In October, Omniex announced that it had partnered with Gemini.

In January 2019, Gemini launched a new ad campaign in New York promoting the adoption and regulation of cryptocurrency. The ad campaign featured slogans like "The Revolution Needs Rules," and "Crypto Without Chaos" on subways and on taxis, as well as a full-page ad in the New York Times. The campaign was created with the New York-based branding agency Interesting Development.

In August 2019, Gemini announced on its blog that it had joined Silvergate Bank's payments network. Gemini's director of financial operations Josua Rawlins said that this would allow its institutional customers to deposit and withdraw U.S. dollars to and from their accounts in real-time.

In December 2019, Gemini hired Julian Sawyer, former chief operating officer of the mobile-based Starling Bank, as its managing director of Europe. Sawyer left Gemini less than a year later, moving to Bitstamp in October 2020.

In January 2020, Gemini hired Blair Halliday, former compliance head of Circle, as its chief compliance and money-laundering reporting officer. He later became head of U.K. for the company.

In August 2020, Gemini announced that it had partnered with Eventus Systems Inc., a trade surveillance and risk management software platform provider, making it the sixth major digital asset exchange to partner with the company.

In an interview with The Block in January 2021, the Winklevoss twins said they were "watching the market" and considering making Gemini a publicly-traded company.

Chicago office

In June 2019, Gemini announced the opening of an office in Chicago, Illinois. Intending to make the new office an "engineering hub" for trader support and the development of new products, the company hired five former employees of Coinbase's defunct Chicago office which closed in April. The company planned to build new order types and other tools for institutional traders in this new branch, potentially including a new low-latency, high-frequency trading engine, similar to the one Coinbase had been working on. David Weisberger, CEO of CoinRoutes, said that Gemini already has one of the fastest trading engines in the market and that this may not be an advantageous move from a liquidity standpoint.

Australian launch

In August 2019, Gemini announced that its launch of trading services for Australian users, and that Australian customers can use Gemini's iOS and Android apps. Gemini announced the move at the same time that it announced the hiring of cybersecurity expert David Damato to its executive team as chief security officer.

Asian expansion

In June 2020 Gemini hired cryptocurrency neophyte Jeremy Ng, a Goldman Sachs alumnus and Singapore resident, to head a Gemini office in Singapore. A Gemini spokesperson told The Block Crypto that the company would apply for an operating license in Singapore, a new requirement for cryptocurrency platforms in Singapore. Gemini also indicated that it intended Singapore to be the base for additional business development in Asia.

U.K. expansion

The company announced its expansion into the U.K. on September 24, 2020, saying that its recent registration there as an Electronic Money Institution enabled it to take British pound deposits and offer its full range of trading and custody services. Gemini was licensed by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority on September 18, 2020.

Products and Services

In August 2019, Gemini announced that its prices would be included in the CME Group's cryptocurrency pricing indices, starting August 30, 2019.

Mobile App

In December 2018, Gemini launched a mobile app allowing customers to buy or sell cryptocurrencies, view price charts, and view their personal portfolio. The app also featured similar security measures to the Gemini exchange.

Block Trading

Gemini offers block trading through the Gemini Block Trading service, allowing its users to buy or sell large quantities of bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies without upsetting the cryptocurrency market. This went live on April 12th, 2018.

Block trading is an order type through which registered users on the Gemini exchange can trade large amounts of BTC, ETH, or ZEC. It involves submitting an indication of interest (IOI), similar to a buy order for a security on a traditional exchange. The IOI goes through the exchange, where vetted traders, called "Market Makers," approve or reject the order. If the order is approved, the trade is carried out at an agreed-upon price, and added to Gemini's blockchain.

Gemini Dollar

In September 2018, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss received approval from the New York Department of Financial Services to launch the Gemini dollar (GUSD), a stablecoin backed by funds held by State Street Corporation. Gemini dollar prices broke the peg to the U.S. dollar on October 15 and 16, 2018 hitting $1.14 and $1.19, respectively. By October 19, the Gemini dollar price had receded to $1.01. Later that month, Cameron Winklevoss wrote on the company's official blog that GUSD has been adopted by 25 exchanges.

Two OTC trading desks reported on February 5, 2019, that Gemini had closed their accounts after requesting large redemptions of GUSD into U.S. dollars.

Gemini's stablecoin suffered a significant loss in demand beginning in about May 2019. After peaking at over 88 million GUSD in circulation in mid December 2018, the number had fallen to below 5 million GUSD by mid November 2019, eleven months later. According to The Block Crypto on November 15, Sarah Olsen, who had been deeply involved with efforts to promote the stablecoin, left Gemini. The company did not respond to the publication's request for confirmation.

Cryptocurrency insurance

In October 2018, Gemini announced that it had secured insurance contracts for its customer's digital assets. The insurance came from a global consortium of insurance providers organized by Aon Plc, which will hold virtual currencies in "hot" wallets on behalf of customers.

Gemini joins Radianz Cloud

In February 2019, Gemini announced that it had joined the Radianz Cloud platform (created by BT Radianz), enabling quicker and less complicated connection to financial institutions also on the Radianz Cloud network. According to Nick Vigier of Gemini, existing Radianz customers will be able to access Gemini's FIX interface through their Radianz connection.

Pilot with State Street Corp.

In December 2019, State Street Corporation and Gemini announced the launch of a pilot program that consolidates reporting about a user's holdings within Gemini Custody. Initially, the pilot would focus on reporting processes for bitcoin and Ether for "reasons of liquidity," the announcement said, but that additional functionality would be added later that would account for things like other security tokens.

"Nakamoto" insurance company

In January 2020 Gemini launched "Nakamoto," an insurance company created to insure the digital assets of Gemini's customers held in cold wallets. The company will reportedly provide $200 million worth of coverage for customers.

SOC examinations

In January 2019 Gemini reported that it had undergone a System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2, Type 1 examination by Deloitte. The examination addressed management of the systems used to process user data. Gemini's digital platform, user database, privacy and security functions. Representatives from Gemini said the company would undergo the SOC 2, Type 2 examination later in 2019.

In April 2020, Gemini's Head of Risk, Yusef Hussain, announced that the exchange had received a Service Organization Control (SOC) 1 Type 1 examination by Deloitte which tested whether its customer reporting controls are designed to mitigate the risk of significant error, omission, or data loss.

RIA Services

In August 2020, Gemini announced that it had entered into a partnership with Blockchange, a San Francisco-based crypto investing platform for professional wealth managers, to offer cryptocurrency storage and trading services for registered investment advisors (RIAs). The announcement also said that Quantum Capital Management was the first client of Gemini and Blockchange's new service.

Brave Partnership

In July 2015, the privacy-focused Web browser Brave partnered with Gemini so that Brave users could buy, sell, store, and trade cryptocurrency within the browser.

Credit Card

In January 2021, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss announced the launch of a credit card that would offer bonuses to customers in the form of bitcoin and other digital assets during an interview with The Block. The Gemini founders said that this product's launch was due to the acquisition of the fintech startup Blockrize. A waitlist was opened up shortly after the interview.

Gemini Earn

Gemini Earn allowed customers to generate yields by lending their crypto assets to a borrowing counterparty. Gemini ended the master loan agreement between its customers and Genesis Global Capital and terminated the Earn program in early 2023 after Genesis, the lending partner of the Earn program, paused withdrawals and messaged that they would not be able to meet customer redemptions within the service-level agreement (SLA) of 5 business days.

Key People

• Cameron Winklevoss/Tyler Winklevoss - Co-Founders
• Robert Cornish - CTO
• Nick Vigier - CIO
• Julian Sawyer - Managing Director, Europe
• Blair Halliday - Chief Compliance Officer and Money-Laundering Reporting Officer