Gemini Review

Company

Safe, trusted way to build your crypto portfolio. Buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrency.

Founded in 2014 by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Gemini Trust Company, LLC is a cryptocurrency exchange and custodian that allows customers to buy, sell, and store digital assets.

It is a New York trust company that is regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS) and is subject to the capital reserve requirements, cybersecurity requirements, and banking compliance standards set forth by the NYSDFS and the New York Banking Law — on par with traditional financial institutions.

Accolades

• The Ascent’s 2022 Cryptocurrency Exchange and App Awards:
  • Best Cryptocurrency Exchange Overall
  • Best Cryptocurrency App for Earning Interest
  • Best Cryptocurrency App for Beginners

Investors

• Gemini raised $400 million in a round of funding that values the company at $7.1 billion. [Nov 2021]
  • led by Morgan Creek Digital with participation from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and other investors.

Key metrics

• custodies more than $30 billion in crypto assets [Nov 2021]
• over $3B in assets in Gemini Earn [Oct 2021]

Notable developments

• Launch of Gemini Foundation [May 2023]
  • a non-US derivatives platform
• Crypto broker Genesis and its parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG) owe customers of Gemini $900 million [Dec 2022]
  • reported by Financial Times (FT)
  • Genesis is the main partner in Gemini’s “earn” programme
• announced to downsize workforce by 10% [Jun 2022]
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued Gemini Trust Company [Jun 2022]
  • alleges the crypto exchange’s staff misled the federal regulator during Gemini’s 2017 effort to launch trading of what would have been a landmark Bitcoin (BTC) futures contract

Presence in Singapore

• Entity: Gemini Digital Payments Pte Ltd, an affiliate of GEMINI TRUST COMPANY, LLC

Regulation by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)

In October 2024, Gemini announced that it has received In-Principle Approval (IPA) from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for its Major Payment Institution (MPI) license application under the Payment Services Act 2019 to provide cross-border money transfer and digital payment token services.

Travel Rule

Gemini has implemented measures to meet regulatory obligations as defined by the Payment Services Act (2019).

Digital Asset withdrawals will only be permitted to:

• Whitelisted, self-hosted wallets (e.g., a wallet you own and control that is not hosted by another exchange or third party).
  • WARNING: whitelisting takes seven days
• DPT that is either on (1) Bitcoin or Bitcoin Fork Networks (eg. Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, Litecoin, and Zcash) or (2) Ethereum/ERC20 blockchain.
• Wallets for which a Gemini customer has completed a Small Deposit Test (sometimes referred to as a “Satoshi Test”),

Social media

Telegram: https://t.me/s/geminiofficial_APAC

Ecosystem

Gemini dollar (GUSD) Stablecoin

Gemini dollar (GUSD) is a 1:1 USD-backed stablecoin, always convertible to exactly $1 at Gemini.

It is the first regulated stablecoin in the world. Gemini began issuing Gemini Dollars (GUSD) on September 9, 2018

Key points:

• direct supervision and regulatory oversight by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).
• reserves backing GUSD are held in accounts with State Street Bank and Trust, Signature Bank, and Goldman Sachs Asset Management in the USA.
• reserve balance is examined monthly by BPM LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, to verify GUSD’s 1:1 backing. Their monthly attestations are available here.

Platform users can purchase GUSD and earn interest on them via Gemini Earn®.

Gemini Earn®

Gemini Earn® is a lending program through which you may choose to lend your crypto to certain institutional borrowers and earn interest on your crypto.

Pros:

• Redeem and move your cryptocurrency back to your trading account (plus interest) at any time!
• Interest is paid out and compounded daily
• No minimum deposit required

Gemini Foundation

Launched in May 2023, Gemini Foundation offers customers a capital-efficient, highly available, and trusted venue to trade derivatives. Purpose-built for both individuals and institutions, Gemini Foundation combines powerful trading tools with an elegant user experience

It is only available in Gemini ActiveTrader™.

To open a Gemini Derivatives account, customers must reside in a supported jurisdiction, and have a Gemini account.

Follow the steps below to start trading derivatives:

1. Log on to ActiveTrader via the web.
2. Select “Open a Gemini Derivatives Account”
   • Create a new Gemini Derivatives Account
   • Read and accept the derivatives-specific Terms and Conditions
   • Read and acknowledge the Risk Disclosure
3. Transfer GUSD into your Gemini Derivatives account
4. Start trading!

Gemini Staking

Gemini introduced Gemini Staking in August 2022, allowing clients to seamlessly receive staking rewards. Polygon (MATIC) is the first asset available to stake.

Gemini staking is available in the U.S. (excluding N.Y.), Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Benefits of staking with Gemini:

• No minimums
• No gas fees
  • Gemini will manage validators and cover any expenses associated with staking and unstaking processes.
• Redeem your assets at any time

✔️ Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Free direct funding of SGD from your bank account

Gemini offers free direct deposits for Singapore Dollars (SGD) from bank accounts. All users need to do is to manually link their bank account to their Gemini wallet, and they can immediately start transferring funds to and from their Gemini wallet.

This is unlike many other exchanges that work with a third party payments platform which requires users to pay upwards of 0.55% for every deposit made.

Please note that some first-time FAST transfers may take up to 48hrs to get credited while mandatory verifications are being conducted.

Insured funds

Gemini’s insurance coverage safeguards your digital assets in your hot wallet against theft that results from a security breach or hack, a fraudulent transfer, or employee theft. See the Digital Asset Insurance section of the User Agreement for more information.

Offline cold storage of funds

The majority of your crypto is held in offline, air-gapped Cold Storage system. Only a small portion is held in the online Hot Wallet, which is insured.

Regulated, licensed, and audited

World’s first SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 compliant crypto exchange and custodian.

Storing your crypto with Gemini ensures that your assets are held in a state-of-the-art storage system that has been built by world-class security engineers and experts. Gemini is SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 compliant.

Sign up conveniently with SingPass MyInfo

Singapore residents can use SingPass to facilitate opening a Gemini account. After a successful MyInfo integration, Singapore residents can now simply log in to SingPass to auto-fill Gemini’s account registration forms.

❌ Drawbacks

7-day waiting period when adding wallets to withdrawal whitelist

From 1 March 2022, there will be a 7-day waiting period when changing or adding a new address to the list of approved wallets for withdrawals. Crypto.com which has a similar mechanism to prevent unauthorized draining of account assets, requires a waiting period of 24 hours which is much shorter by comparison.

0.55% fee on SGD withdrawals via FAST transfer

A fee of 0.55% is applicable to all SGD withdrawals via FAST transfer. This wire withdrawal fee applies to all customers who initiate SGD withdrawals to their bank accounts linked via Xfers.

Notes

Termination of 10 FREE monthly withdrawals feature

Effective Wednesday, 15 June 2022, crypto withdrawals from the Gemini platform (ie. when you send crypto to an external wallet or to another exchange) will be subject to a dynamic or flat fee.

Dynamic fees will apply to withdrawals of ETH and ERC-20 tokens (except Gemini dollar (GUSD)). The dynamic fee will correspond to Ethereum gas fees, which vary based on network activity.

Any crypto withdrawal from the Gemini platform that’s not ETH or an ERC-20 token will instead incur a flat fee. The flat fees for non-Ethereum crypto withdrawals can be found here.

Prior to this change, Gemini used to offer 10 FREE withdrawals monthly for users, which was a major attraction to crypto investors.