Winklevoss Pairs Crypto Firm Gemini to Expand its Irish Base

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US cryptocurrency platform Gemini plans to expand its presence in Ireland as it uses the country to expand its services across Europe, founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have said.

The twin brothers, who met the Taoiseach in Dublin today, said they chose Ireland for Gemini’s European headquarters because of the strong regulatory system, talent and established tech community here.

“Ireland is our entry point into the EU,” Cameron Winklevoss, chairman of Gemini, told RT News.

“We looked at the whole of the EU as potential entry points and felt really comfortable with Ireland and the reputation of the regulator, the CBI, as well as the tech community, talent and ecosystem. So for us it was an obvious natural fit.”

Currently, the company has around a dozen employees here, but expects to increase that number following the EU’s adoption of the new Crypto Asset Markets (MiCA) regulation, which was approved just over a week ago by the European Council.

“That number is very likely to increase with the advent of MiCA, which is a very good development. And our plan is to apply for MiCA through Ireland,” said Cameron Winklevoss.

“And given the new framework, which we want to respect and enforce, and the opportunity for growth, I think that number could very well increase by multiples, if not magnitude more.”

The Winklevoss twins first became public knowledge after becoming embroiled in a legal row with fellow Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg over ownership of Facebook’s brainchild.

After settling the case in 2008, they became the first cryptocurrency investors, a move that would have led them both to become billionaires.

In 2015, they created Gemini, which in February obtained authorization to establish electronic money from the Central Bank and in July became the first company to be registered as a virtual asset service provider (VASP ) here.

Recently, the Central Bank Governor called unsecured cryptocurrencies more akin to a “Ponzi scheme” than an investment and Gabriel Makhlouf called for urgent political action to protect investors.

But despite the governors’ obvious concerns about the crypto industry in general, Gemini hasn’t been put off by the level of regulation here.

“Well, we thought the bar was really high, but we really like that,” said Tyler Winklevoss, Gemini’s general manager.

“Our approach to regulation is to go to the jurisdictions with the best regulators and the best licenses and get those licenses.”

“Because that credibility speaks volumes about our business, our compliance standards, our safety standards, and our product standards. We truly set a high standard.”

Tyler (left) and Cameron Winklevoss

The founders of Geminis recently traveled the world in an effort to better understand the regulatory landscape and attitudes of different countries towards crypto, following the severe blows the sector has suffered over the past year. , following the collapse of a number of exchanges that led to huge losses among investors.

The Winklevoss twins, who are former Olympic rowers, believe the industry has been unfairly tarnished by the actions of a few.

“Our message is that it is not acceptable to paint crypto with a broad brush,” said Cameron Winklevoss, who added that some crypto firms’ problems were the result of fraud issues, not problems. with the cryptocurrencies themselves.

“And unfortunately these frauds exist and they are happening and they have been happening since the beginning of finance. And to let that cloud and shadow this technology and this movement is unfortunate. And we also believe that countries that don’t support crypto are actually short crypto, which means they’re short on the future.”

The difficulties faced by crypto businesses in the United States have prompted a significant crackdown from industry regulators, which many believe is overdue, but creates challenges for the remaining companies offering crypto services.

“It’s really difficult and there’s a lack of consistency,” Cameron Winklevoss said.

“In the US system, there are two federal regulators, one for commodities and one for securities, and then there’s regulation at the state level. And there’s just a lack of consistency that makes it difficult for people to understand where the government is in all of this.”

Gemini bosses say this lack of clear guidance for responsible American business in the growth and innovation space has led many consumers to be allowed by regulators to use alternatives under scrutiny.

“So they created it, they missed it, now they’re going after the good actors who are the most regulated, the most licensed, because they’re just the closest to them,” Tyler said. Winklevoss.

Gemini is also quick to defend those who back the narrative around a future for crypto, despite criticism from many quarters and suggestions that its volatility and uncertainty mean it won’t survive as a concept.

“If you look at the crowd, that crypto has attracted, it’s the brightest computer engineers, the brightest builders and a lot of Gen Z and millennials who say I don’t want old forms of money, I’m not looking to hold gold, I don’t believe in fiat narrative or fiction, if you will,” Cameron Winklevoss said.

“At the end of the day, all money is fiction, which means you have to choose the fiction you want and what we see is that the younger generation does not believe in the fiction of the old generation, to fiat.”

“We see money printed as if it’s going out of fashion, out of thin air. We see debts piling up with trillions of dollars each year and we say we don’t want to be part of it. The narrative has well sure been twisted and hijacked.”

Gemini is also facing its own regulatory issues in the United States, where it and digital asset trading group Genesis are being sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission over a crypto asset lending program, Gemini Earn, which, according to him, was not properly registered as an offering of securities.

Tyler Winklevoss said Gemini disagrees with the SEC action and believes it is counterproductive.

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