Gemini Review: Licences, Fees, Safety and Its Exit from Europe

Verdict: Gemini is a New York-chartered, US-focused exchange with strong custody credentials (a limited purpose trust company, SOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 examinations) and a public listing on Nasdaq since September 2025. In February 2026 it decided to wind down its operations in the UK, the EU and other European countries, and Australia, so in November 2026 it is mainly an option for US residents. Its entry trading fees are high and its record includes the collapse of its Earn lending programme.

This review uses Gemini’s own fee schedules and product pages, its 2025 annual report and 2026 quarterly reports filed with the SEC, and regulator records. It explains who runs Gemini, where it still operates, how it holds customer assets, what it costs to trade and withdraw, the products by region and the alternatives. Crypto assets are volatile, nothing here is financial advice, and we do not quote live prices.

What are the key facts about Gemini?

Gemini was founded in 2014 by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. Its parent, Gemini Space Station, Inc., has traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker GEMI since 12 September 2025. US customers are served by Gemini Trust Company, LLC, a New York limited purpose trust company supervised by the NYDFS, and by Gemini Moonbase, LLC, which holds state licences. Deloitte has audited Gemini since 2022.

Who runs Gemini, and which entity serves you?

In the United States you deal with Gemini Trust Company, LLC, a New York limited purpose trust company and qualified custodian primarily regulated by the NYDFS, or with Gemini Moonbase, LLC, which is regulated by state regulators including Florida’s Office of Financial Regulation. Both are registered with FinCEN as money services businesses. Singapore users deal with Gemini Digital Payments Pte. Ltd.

The trust charter is what sets Gemini apart from most rivals. A New York limited purpose trust company must meet capital requirements and comply with New York banking law, the NYDFS virtual currency rules and the NYDFS cybersecurity regulation. Gemini also operates a CFTC-registered designated contract market, Gemini Titan, which runs its event-contract product, Gemini Predictions, launched in December 2025.

Gemini’s annual report describes the business as founder-led, with the Winklevoss twins at the centre of it. In February 2026 the company also announced the departure of its chief operating officer, chief financial officer and chief legal officer, alongside a reduction in force of up to about 200 employees.

Where is Gemini available after the 2026 exit from Europe and Australia?

On 4 February 2026 Gemini approved a plan to exit and wind down its operations in the UK, the European Union and other European jurisdictions, and Australia, to cut costs and focus on the US. Its annual report says operations continue in the United States and Singapore and that the plan was expected to be substantially completed in the first half of 2026, subject to local law.

That matters more than any fee. Before the plan, Gemini served users in more than 60 countries at the end of 2025, and its Maltese entity had only received its MiCA authorisation in August 2025. If you are in Europe, the UK or Australia, check Gemini’s emails and support pages for the closing timetable that applies to your account, withdraw your crypto to a wallet you control and choose a platform that is staying.

• United States: available in all 50 states through Gemini Trust and Gemini Moonbase.
• Singapore: continuing, through Gemini Digital Payments Pte. Ltd.
• EU and EEA: wind-down; Gemini Intergalactic EU Ltd remains listed on ESMA’s interim MiCA register (authorised 21 August 2025) but the business is exiting.
• UK and Australia: wind-down under the same plan.
• Canada: Gemini’s annual report does not list Canadian operations.

European readers looking for a licensed replacement can compare options in our guide to MiCA-licensed exchanges in Europe, which includes Bitstamp and Bitpanda.

Is Gemini safe?

Gemini’s custody model is among the more conservative: Gemini Trust is a fiduciary and qualified custodian, says it holds all customer assets in full, keeps most assets in offline cold storage with hardware security modules and multi-party computation, and carries $25 million of crime insurance for its hot wallet and $100 million of specie cover for cold storage. Its Earn lending programme with Genesis, however, left customers waiting until 2024 to recover their assets.

How does Gemini hold customer assets?

According to the 2025 annual report, “all customer assets are held in full on our platform”, meaning every unit of crypto or cash a user holds is meant to be available to that user. Custody uses offline cold storage, geographically distributed hardware security modules (HSMs) and multi-party computation, and Gemini Custody offers segregated wallets for clients who need them. Gemini does not publish a Merkle-tree proof of reserves; assurance comes from NYDFS supervision, audited accounts and its SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 reports.

Insurance is limited relative to the assets on the platform. The 10-K describes $25 million of crime cover for crypto in Gemini’s hot wallet (through an affiliated captive insurer and another carrier) and $100 million of specie cover for crypto in cold storage, against $15.9 billion of assets on platform at the end of 2025. Insurance of this kind protects against theft from Gemini, not against a fall in prices or a loss caused by your own compromised account.

What happened with Gemini Earn?

Gemini Earn let customers lend crypto to Gemini’s partner Genesis for interest. When Genesis stopped returning assets, Earn users were left waiting until 2024 while the matter went through the Genesis bankruptcy and litigation. After settlements, Earn users received about $2.2 billion of crypto in kind on 29 May 2024, roughly 97% of the stipulated settlement, and Gemini says it distributed the remainder in June 2024.

The settlements cost Gemini $137 million in total. Under a February 2024 consent order with the NYDFS, Gemini Trust paid a $37 million civil penalty and contributed $40 million to Earn users’ recovery, plus $10 million under a Genesis bankruptcy settlement. A June 2024 settlement with the New York Attorney General required it to distribute about $50 million. The SEC lawsuit over Earn, filed on 12 January 2023, ended on 28 January 2026, when the SEC dismissed the case without any payment by Gemini.

The wider lesson, which also applies to the FTX collapse and its repayments, is that a yield product turns exchange risk into lender risk. Our guide on whether it is safe to keep crypto on an exchange covers the general case.

What other enforcement and security incidents has Gemini had?

• CFTC, January 2025: Gemini Trust settled a 2022 CFTC lawsuit by consent order filed on 6 January 2025, agreeing without admitting or denying liability to a $5 million civil penalty over statements to CFTC staff that it should have known were false or misleading.
• 2022 vendor breaches: breaches at third-party vendors exposed email addresses and truncated phone numbers of some users.
• June 2024: an unauthorised actor breached a service provider of one of Gemini’s ACH banking partners, affecting about 15,000 users. Gemini reported no material impact in either case.

Leaked emails and phone numbers are mainly a phishing risk, so be wary of messages that claim to be from Gemini and ask you to log in through a link or move funds.

How much does Gemini charge?

Gemini charges in two ways. Orders in the simple Gemini mode on the website or app carry a fee calculated at order time plus a spread on instant and recurring orders, shown on the review screen. ActiveTrader uses maker and taker fees that start at 0.60% maker and 1.20% taker below $10,000 of 30-day volume, among the highest entry rates of the large US exchanges.

On an illustrative $1,000 market buy on ActiveTrader at the entry tier, the 1.20% taker fee is $12.00; a resting maker order at 0.60% is $6.00. The same $1,000 funded by debit card adds a $34.90 card fee before any trading fee or spread. Funding by ACH and placing a limit order is the cheapest route on Gemini; on Coinbase Advanced the US entry taker rate is 0.90% by comparison.

A few schedule details change the real cost. Gemini recalculates fee tiers every day at about 2am UTC, using the better of your trailing 30-day volume (excluding stablecoin pairs) or your total asset balance, and it charges fees in the quote currency, so a BTC/USD fee is paid in dollars. Margin is expensive: the 1 September 2026 schedule charges interest every hour, equal to 26.3% a year on borrowed US dollars and 10.5% a year on borrowed bitcoin, plus a 0.5% fee on any liquidation order. Gemini must give at least three days’ notice of fee changes.

Gemini says it does not keep the dynamic withdrawal fee, which is meant to match the network fee paid to miners or validators. Moving crypto from the exchange into Gemini Custody is free, but moving it back from Custody to the exchange costs $125 per withdrawal.

What ID checks does Gemini require?

Gemini verifies every customer’s identity before trading, as a NYDFS-supervised trust company and FinCEN-registered money services business must. Expect to provide personal details and a government photo ID, and to answer source-of-funds questions for large deposits. Account limits depend on your verification, payment method and history, and are shown in your account rather than in a public table.

The NYDFS framework also brings cybersecurity duties: Gemini Trust must run a written cybersecurity programme, test it and report incidents to the regulator. For you, the practical controls are two-factor authentication with a hardware security key or authenticator app and an approved-address list for withdrawals.

What products does Gemini offer beyond spot trading?

Beyond spot trading, Gemini offers ActiveTrader, margin trading with up to 5x leverage for eligible users, perpetual contracts through Gemini Artemis Pte. Ltd. in selected jurisdictions, CFTC-regulated event contracts through Gemini Titan, staking, Gemini Custody, the GUSD stablecoin and a Mastercard credit card issued with WebBank that pays crypto rewards. Not every product is offered in every state or country.

• Perpetuals: Gemini says perpetuals are available in select jurisdictions to eligible retail and institutional customers, and that all crypto derivatives products are provided by Gemini Artemis Pte. Ltd. Derivatives fees start at 0.02% maker and 0.07% taker.
• Gemini Predictions: event contracts traded on Gemini Titan, a CFTC-registered designated contract market, from December 2025.
• Staking: ETH, SOL and others for a fee of up to 35% of rewards; our guide on how to stake Ethereum compares exchange staking with other routes.
• Gemini Dollar (GUSD): Gemini’s own dollar stablecoin; for how dollar stablecoins differ, see USDT vs USDC vs DAI.
• Gemini Credit Card: issued with WebBank on Mastercard, paying rewards in bitcoin, ether, solana and over 50 other assets.

How do you withdraw from Gemini safely?

To withdraw safely from Gemini, secure the account with a hardware key or authenticator app, add the destination to your approved addresses, confirm the network matches your receiving wallet, check the dynamic fee on the confirmation screen and send a small test before the full amount. Users in the UK, EU and Australia should do this early, before their account reaches the end of the wind-down.

1. Turn on two-factor authentication with a security key or authenticator app.
2. Copy the receiving address from your own wallet and check the first and last characters.
3. Choose the right network: Bitcoin for BTC; for USDT, a network your wallet supports. ERC-20 withdrawals pay gas in the token being withdrawn.
4. Read the dynamic fee before confirming; it changes with network congestion.
5. Send a test, confirm it arrived, then send the rest.

Our guide to moving crypto from an exchange to your own wallet covers address checks and network choice in more detail.

What are the alternatives to Gemini?

For US residents, Coinbase and Kraken are the closest alternatives, and Bitstamp also serves the US. Coinbase’s US entry taker fee on Advanced is 0.90% and Kraken Pro’s is 0.80%, both lower than Gemini’s 1.20%. For European users leaving Gemini, Bitstamp (Luxembourg MiCA licence), Bitpanda (Austrian MiCA licence), Coinbase and Kraken all hold MiCA authorisations.