Gemini is a sign that represents twins and emphasizes duality, as any astrologer will tell you. The Gemini name alludes to the Gemini space program, in addition to the obvious resemblance to the Winklevosses. (Gemini Space Station is the holding company that owns the Gemini platform and the brothers' other assets.) The goal of Gemini is to combine new-age cryptocurrencies with conventional currencies. On Gemini, you may buy and sell US dollars and bitcoins.
Gemini users may trade currency pairs in roughly 20 combinations, as is the case with any currency exchange. The majority of the combinations include the US dollar (USD), bitcoin (BTC), or ether (ETH). So, for example, the currency pair ZEC/USD shown is a zcash to US dollars exchange. Gemini is a bitcoin exchange that provides its retail and institutional customers with a secure platform to purchase, trade, and store digital currencies.
The Gemini exchange is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with the exception of scheduled maintenance windows.
A standard market order on Gemini is filled immediately at the best available market price at that moment, as it is with any online broker. Gemini also offers a variety of limit orders, including immediate or cancel (IOC), maker or cancel (MOC), and auction-only (AO) limits. Gemini does not provide margin trading, unlike competitors like Kraken. It also prohibits short trading.
Customers must link a bank account and make a wire transfer or an ACH deposit in order to trade on the platform. Gemini's main emphasis is on user security. Most users' crypto is kept in "cold storage," while ready cash is kept in an insured "hot wallet."
Customers may move cryptocurrencies from a cryptocurrency wallet to a Gemini account and vice versa. To deposit crypto coins into a Gemini account, consumers must create an unique deposit address on the platform and then send funds from the wallet to that address.
Gemini is a bitcoin exchange as well as a custodian for its customers. It is permitted by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) to keep a client's digital assets in trust on behalf of the customer. That is, your digital currency holdings are kept to reserve requirements and banking compliance standards by virtue of its license from the NYDFS. Gemini is also responsible for maintaining and keeping in compliance with necessary cybersecurity standards.
Gemini maintains a banking agreement with State Street, which is a New York State-chartered bank that holds all customer funds. The platform's compliance with conventional financial standards ensures that whatever money comes into the market is backed by adequate monetary reserves.
Individual customers are assigned the basic, zero-fee depository account type, but big institutional clients can choose a segregated custody account with an offline, secure, and auditable storage system called the Cold Storage system. The service is aimed at institutional investors like mutual funds, exchange traded funds (ETFs), and hedge funds.
Gemini Exchange, its mobile app, and its Active Trader service all have unique pricing structures. Fees for accounts under $1 million are 0.250% for purchasers, 0.100% for sellers, and 0.150% for auction participants. Certain extremely large transactions are exempt from fees.
The Gemini Pay app, which allows customers to pay for items using their cryptocurrency, is fee-free. Gemini dollars, the service's Gemini stable coin, has the advantage of being less volatile in price since it is linked to the U.S. dollar and is free to use. Bitcoin, ether (Ethereum), litecoin, zcash, and bitcoin cash can all be used to pay for goods and services through the Pay app.
The Winklevoss twins appear intent on being the white hats in a Wild West of cryptocurrency trade.
Gemini has tried to set itself apart from the competition by stressing that it is licensed and regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services, which is in charge of overseeing banks, financial services, and insurance firms that operate in the state. It has likewise taken out insurance for its customers' crypto assets.
The Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, control the majority of Gemini. The Winklevoss brothers are best recognized for their legal battle with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, in which they claimed that Facebook was their creation and that Zuckerberg had stolen it. All three were students at Harvard University at the time.
According to The New York Times, some of the money was spent on bitcoin and ether in the twins' early days. That made them billionaires by 2017. Some of that fortune was used to establish Gemini.
Now, to them, Facebook appears to be from another era. "The concept of a centralized social network will not exist in five or ten years," Tyler Winklevoss told Forbes. "There's a barrier or chasm between the old world and this new crypto-native universe."
In October 2015, the exchange opened for clients in the United States. The exchange went live for customers in Canada and the United Kingdom in mid-2016.
In response to the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies in Asia, Gemini quickly expanded to Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan to serve as a cryptocurrency trading platform. Today it has 50 offices across the world.
Gemini has established a reputation as one of the most innovative cryptocurrency exchanges, with market maker Liquid allowing traders to profit regardless of price movement. In September 2016, Gemini launched the first-ever daily bitcoin auction, a practice followed by all modern stock exchanges but previously unheard-of for a cryptocurrency exchange. Daily ether auctions were introduced in July 2017.
Gemini initially appeared to be aimed at institutional traders rather than individual investors. It was also, naturally enough, primarily a bitcoin exchange. That is no longer the case. Gemini offers the ability to purchase and sell more than 40 cryptocurrencies.
Gemini isn't there yet, but it's getting closer every day. Its Gemini Pay mobile app is now accepted in 30,000 stores, including Bed, Bath & Beyond and Petco. It has a working relationship with Taxbit to assist users with tax calculations involving cryptocurrencies.
Gemini allows crypto owners to earn interest, which is paid out to them in Bitcoin. In early 2021, a savings account function called Earn was launched that pays out annual interest rates of up to 8.05% on cryptocurrency holdings, significantly above typical bank interest rates for regular money.
Gemini is a cryptocurrency trading platform that provides its own cryptocurrency, the Gemini dollar. It supports the purchase and sale of over 40 different crypto coins. Individual and institutional investors may use distinct interfaces on the platform, which may be accessed via a website and mobile app.
As of June 2021, here is the complete list of cryptocurrency items that can be purchased and sold on Gemini, as well as stored there. (Names in parentheses can be stored but not bought or sold on the platform.) You are not alone if you are unfamiliar with some of these names:
Aave, Amp, Basic Attention Token, Bancor, BarnBridge, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, (Bread), (Caspian), Chainlink, Compound, Curve, Dai, Decentraland, Dogecoin, Enjin Coin, Ether, Filecoin, Gemini dollar, (Golem), Injective, (Keep Network), Kyber Network, Litecoin, Livepeer, (Loom), Loopring, Maker, (Numeraire), (Ocean), (OMG Network), 1inch, Orchid, Ox, PAX Gold, Polygon, Ren, SKALE, Somnium Space, Storj, SushiSwap, Synthetix, (tBTC), The Sandbox, The Graph, Uma, Uniswap, (Wrapped Bitcoin), (Wrapped Nexus Mutual), Yearn.finance, Zcash.
Gemini is a private firm, so any estimates of its value are pure speculation. That said, the firm has 350 employees. According to Bloomberg on Nov. 19, 2021, Gemini has a market capitalization of $7.1 billion.
Gemini and Coinbase are the most popular cryptocurrency platforms, as of this writing. Both have comparable capabilities, with added emphasis on security and usability. It's difficult to obtain exact user figures, which are likely to change as soon as they're published. Gemini initially had a larger user base, with around 13.6 million people compared to Coinbase's 13.3 million, according to BitDegree.
The Gemini and Coinbase cryptocurrency platforms are currently the most popular. The platform of Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who created it on a promise to bring order and security to the cryptocurrency market, is based on a vow. "Cryptocurrency without chaos" was one of the early advertisements.
Gemini is a New York trust company that proudly bills itself as a "regulated" exchange. Online wallets are insured, which means you won't lose money if your computer crashes.