Gemini

Gemini is a crypto exchange and custodian for individuals and institutions. Its quarterly report lists the product set: a spot and derivatives exchange, custody for institutions, the GUSD dollar stablecoin, staking, a credit card that pays crypto rewards, a CFTC-regulated prediction market and a spot margin service. It was founded in 2014.

This Gemini is not Google's AI assistant of the same name. The two companies are unrelated, and searches for the word mix them up. Gemini the exchange operates at gemini.com and its parent trades on Nasdaq as GEMI.

The parent, Gemini Space Station, Inc., listed on Nasdaq in September 2025; its prospectus is dated 11 September 2025 and priced 15,178,572 Class A shares at $28. Tyler Winklevoss is co-founder, chief executive and a director; Cameron Winklevoss is the other co-founder. The company's filings note that as a founder-led company, publicity about the Winklevoss twins can affect its brand. Its principal office is at 600 Third Avenue in New York.

Retail customers use the Gemini app or website to buy, sell and convert crypto. For instant and recurring orders Gemini includes a spread in the quoted price and charges a fee calculated when you place the order; both appear on the review screen before you confirm. ActiveTrader and the API give access to the order book with maker and taker fees instead.

Gemini Trust Company, LLC is the regulated core: a limited purpose trust company chartered by the New York Department of Financial Services, which holds customer crypto and runs the exchange. Gemini Custody serves institutions that want segregated cold storage. GUSD is Gemini's own dollar stablecoin; $39.8 million of customer custodial funds related to GUSD sat on the balance sheet at 30 June 2026.

The Gemini Credit Card is issued by WebBank, and Gemini commits to buy the card receivables; it had bought $219.6 million of them by 30 June 2026. Card revenue was $16.2 million in the second quarter of 2026, a third of total revenue. Gemini Predictions, run by subsidiary Gemini Titan, LLC under a CFTC Designated Contract Market licence, lets eligible users trade binary event contracts. How the card's rewards and costs compare with others is on Gemini's crypto card rating card.

Gemini publishes order-book fees but not fixed retail fees. Its Gemini-mode schedule says fees and spread depend on payment method, order size, market conditions, jurisdiction and asset, are shown before you confirm, and that Gemini may retain excess spread and may test changes.

The ActiveTrader and API schedule is public and steep at the entry level: 0.60% maker and 1.20% taker for accounts with no qualifying volume or balance, falling to 0.00% maker and 0.020% taker above $250 million of 30-day volume. Tiers can also be reached through asset balance. Most stablecoin pairs trade at 0.00% maker and 0.01% taker, and RLUSD/USD, USDC/GUSD and GUSD/USD at zero.

Moving money is cheap by ACH and costly by card. ACH deposits and withdrawals are free, wire deposits are free and wire withdrawals cost $25, and debit card purchases cost 3.49%. Crypto withdrawals carry a dynamic fee that Gemini says tracks network costs and is not retained.

On 5 February 2026 Gemini announced a plan to wind down its operations in the United Kingdom, the European Union, other European jurisdictions and Australia, with a reduction of about 200 staff and the closure or early termination of offices in London, Malta and San Francisco. Its quarterly report says its remaining foreign-currency exposure is mainly in Singapore dollars, and that its foreign subsidiaries hold the licences they need, including from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Customers in the affected regions were given dates to stop trading and withdraw, which press reports put at early March 2026 with account closure in April; Gemini's own notice could not be opened for this update. ESMA's MiCA register, updated 22 October 2026, still lists Gemini Intergalactic EU Ltd as authorised by Malta's MFSA since 21 August 2025, which reflects the register rather than an active EU service.

In the US, Gemini says it holds money transmitter licences or equivalents in every state that requires them, alongside the New York trust charter. International revenue was $7.4 million of $95.7 million in the first half of 2026. Our explainer on which exchanges Americans can use puts this coverage in context.

Gemini's protections are institutional. Its trust charter puts the exchange under New York's banking regulator, it says it was the first crypto exchange and custodian with SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 reports, and it cites ISO 27001 and annual penetration testing. It does not publish a proof of reserves, so customers cannot independently check that balances are backed.

Insurance is real but limited. According to its September 2025 prospectus, an affiliated captive insurer and another carrier provide $25 million of crime cover for crypto in Gemini's hot wallet, against theft from a breach, fraudulent transfer or employee theft, and third-party insurers provide $100 million of specie cover for Gemini Custody cold storage. Against $8.4 billion of assets on the platform, that cover would meet only a small loss. The 2026 quarterly report warns that cover may be insufficient and may not stay available on reasonable terms.

On custody, Gemini's prospectus says users keep a beneficial ownership interest in the crypto allocated to them on its ledger, and that balances in user deposit accounts are restricted from use in its own operations. If a loss were not covered by insurance, the company says it might have to use its own crypto held in reserve, or buy more, to make users whole.

For US dollar balances, Gemini said in 2020 that deposits are eligible for FDIC pass-through insurance, which protects against the failure of a partner bank, not of Gemini. Crypto is not FDIC-insured.

The company is loss-making: it lost $107.7 million in the second quarter of 2026 and $216.7 million in the first half. Over the year to June 2026, quarterly trading volume fell from $11.3 billion to $3.8 billion and assets on the platform from $18.2 billion to $8.4 billion. Losses do not touch customer assets held in custody, but they shape decisions such as the 2026 market exits.

Earn was a lending program in which Gemini introduced users to Genesis, which paid interest on lent crypto. It ran from February 2021 until November 2022, when Genesis halted redemptions; Genesis filed for bankruptcy in January 2023. About 232,000 Earn users lost access to roughly $1.05 billion of crypto.

In April 2024 the bankruptcy court approved a settlement. Earn users received about $2.18 billion of their crypto in kind on 29 May 2024, about 97% of what Genesis owed, and Gemini distributed the remaining 3% on 20 June 2024. Gemini says users got back every coin they had lent, which, after price rises, was worth more than twice its value when Genesis filed. Because recovery was in kind, users did not receive the interest Earn had advertised, and as of 30 July 2026 Gemini faced 376 arbitrations from Earn users seeking it; it says it has largely won the first five decided.

Regulators acted along the way. Gemini Trust agreed a consent order with NYDFS on 28 February 2024, paying a $37 million penalty and contributing $40 million toward recovery. It settled a CFTC case in January 2025 for $5 million over misleading statements to CFTC staff. The SEC's case over Earn was dismissed with prejudice, reported in January 2026, citing the full recovery. In April 2026 New York's Attorney General sued Gemini Titan, alleging Gemini Predictions is unlicensed gambling; that case is pending.

Four risks stand out. The first is evidence: Gemini offers audits and certifications, not a proof of reserves, so trust rests on its regulators and auditors. The second is the size of insurance relative to assets: $125 million of combined cover against billions held. The third is the business itself, which reported net losses in every 2026 period in its filings and is cutting markets and staff. The fourth is cost: entry-level ActiveTrader fees and the spread on instant orders make frequent small trades expensive.

Against those, the Earn episode shows how Gemini behaved under stress: users got their coins back, though only after 18 months and a bankruptcy settlement. Keeping only active balances on any exchange, and the rest in a wallet you control, limits exposure to all of these risks.

Opening an account requires identity verification; availability is limited to the regions Gemini still serves. ACH is the cheapest way to fund an account. To leave, sell to dollars and withdraw by ACH at no fee, or send crypto to your own wallet and pay the network fee shown before you confirm. Unstake first if you use staking, and allow for the network's unbonding time.

Gemini handles support through its help center at support.gemini.com and in-account requests. Treat any unsolicited call, text or social-media message claiming to be Gemini support as a scam until you have confirmed it by contacting Gemini yourself, and never share passwords, two-factor codes or recovery phrases.

Dated milestones from Gemini's SEC filings and statements:

• 2014: Gemini founded by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss.
• February 2021: Earn launched with Genesis.
• November 2022: Genesis halts Earn redemptions.
• 28 February 2024: NYDFS consent order, $37 million penalty.
• 29 May and 20 June 2024: Earn users recover 100% of assets in kind.
• 6 January 2025: CFTC consent order, $5 million.
• 21 August 2025: MiCA authorisation for Gemini Intergalactic EU Ltd in Malta.
• 11 September 2025: Nasdaq IPO at $28 per share.
• 5 February 2026: Exit from the UK, EU, other European markets and Australia announced.
• 21 April 2026: New York Attorney General sues Gemini Titan over prediction markets.