In 2014, twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss founded Gemini which is a New York-based cryptocurrency exchange. It is announced that Gemini has launched its custody service. Now, customers can trade their assets in cryptocurrency in custody by offering them credits.
It will support 18 cryptocurrencies which include Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Gemini will also support other cryptocurrencies, but many are not approved through the NYDFS. It is reported that the New York financial regulator accepted the listing, custody and issuance framework of Gemini. Included ERC-20 tokens are 0x (ZRX), Basic Attention Token (BAT), Augur (REP), Dai (DAI), Bread (BRD), Enjin (ENJ), Decentraland (MANA), Gemini Dollar (GUSD), Flexacoin (FXC), Loom Network (LOOM), Kyber Network (KNC), Maker (MKR) and OmiseGo (OMG).
It is difficult to access & trade assets because a client has to wait more than a day. But now, the customers of Gemini will be able to trade their assets offline even without waiting for access from the new system.
On September 10, 2019, Gemini said that this custody solution would help their customers to check their balances, download account statements and initiate withdrawals with its redesigned interface. The customers can grant auditors read-only access to confirm the balances and transactions.
Tyler Winklevoss said that crypto matureness as an asset depends on custodial security. Gemini was looking for world-class custody which is secure, easy to use, and compliant for people and all institutions around the world.
Jeanine Hightower-Sellitto, the managing director of operations of Gemini, said that there is a great demand for crypto by the institutional investors. Many investors are struggling to find a solution that can help them out with security requirements.
Recently, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss said that they want to join the Libra stablecoin project of Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg. Cameron claimed that Libra is one step forward to the adoption of the cryptocurrency.
In July, the exchange announced that it would apply for a broker-dealer license through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) which is a self-regulatory organization that oversees the security dealers in the US. Therefore, Gemini should have broker-dealer approval to become an alternative trading system that enables to offer digital securities to approved traders.