Crypto exchange Gemini expands to Australia

By Robert Stevens

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twins known for coming up with the idea for Facebook, have announced the expansion of their crypto-exchange Gemini to Australia.

Australian users can now trade in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Zcash on the exchange. The expansion into Australia takes Gemini’s exchange into its sixth country, joining Canada, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the UK. However, the company’s stablecoin, Gemini, will not be available to Australian customers–only people in South Korea and (some of) the US can buy it. 

“Trust is our product,” wrote Tyler Winklevoss in the accompanying press release. Their pitch to investors is that they are a regulator-backed exchange that promises to make it easier to use crypto; particularly their own stablecoin, Gemini–as long as you’re in South Korea or the US. 

To bolster their safe credentials, this week the Gemini exchange announced it had hired cybersecurity expert David Damato as its chief security officer. They pinched Damato from Tanium, the “world’s most valuable privately-held cybersecurity company.” His job will be to keep the exchange safe in an industry prone to countless, large-scale hacks.

The Winklevoss’ theory is that its cautious approach to the crypto market will help entice big investors into space. “Stablecoins like the Gemini dollar bring U.S. dollars onto the blockchain,” said Tyler Winklevoss earlier this year. “[it] has the potential to bring unprecedented access, liquidity, and capital formation to private investments and tremendous benefits to investors.”

To help soothe investor anxiety, the Gemini stablecoin gets regularly audited by consulting firm Trail of Bits, to verify the 1:1 peg with the dollar. But looking at the numbers, Gemini’s safety-first approach hasn’t had that much success. 

At the time of writing, the Gemini exchange ranks 74th in the world by trading volume. While there are many unregulated exchanges that have been known to pump their trading volumes artificially, Gemini is a long way behind giants such as Binance. The Winklevii can only hope things start looking up as they go down under. 

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