Gemini Expands European Presence With MFSA Approval

Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini had picked Malta as its European base. It shared that it had received early approval for an Investment Firm licence from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA).

The exchange explained that once it got full approval, it could offer options and futures trading under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) across the European Economic Area (EEA). It shared that it planned to provide perpetual futures, a type of futures contract that had no end date, across the region.

Gemini’s Plan To Expand Crypto Trading Services In Europe

Gemini stated that the MiFID II licence was part of its goal to grow in Europe. It added that this step would help it serve both professional traders and regular customers better.

Mark Jennings, who looked after Gemini’s work in Europe, revealed that interest in crypto trading had grown, especially among professional investors. He said the exchange wanted to give traders a top-level service.

According to report, Gemini had already received a Virtual Financial Assets (VFA) Service Licence from the Malta regulator, making the country its base for the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) rules. The exchange also had a similar licence in France.

Gemini explained that these licences did not allow crypto companies to offer certain trading options, like crypto futures. That was why it had applied for the MiFID II licence.

Other crypto exchanges had also gained MiFID licences to provide futures trading in the EEA. A report revealed that Coinbase got a MiFID II licence by taking over a Cypriot trading firm, BUX, which had previously offered CFD trading. Kraken had also received a similar licence by buying a firm in Cyprus but had not shared its name.

While many crypto firms seemed interested in offering only crypto futures for now, they could easily start CFD trading later. It shared that Crypto.com had already stepped into this area by buying a CFD trading company in Australia.

Gemini Seeks To Enable Secure Cryptocurrency Trading And Storage

Gemini Trust Company, LLC (Gemini) was an American cryptocurrency exchange and custodian bank. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss started it in 2014.

In 2023, the company and two others faced a lawsuit from New York attorney general Letitia James. She claimed that they had “tricked” investors by putting their money at high risk.

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss shared news about Gemini in June 2013. The company started working on October 25, 2015. Gemini helped users buy and store Bitcoin using a detailed system of private keys and password-protected spaces.

In October 2015, the New York Department of Financial Services gave Gemini a Limited Purpose Trust Charter. After that, the company grew its services, including FIX and API support.

On May 5, 2016, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo shared that Gemini had become the first licensed Ethereum exchange in the United States. That same year, Gemini shared that users could take out Ethereum Classic (ETC) from their accounts after Ethereum’s code changed in a hard fork.

In October 2017, Gemini said that users who had Bitcoin on the exchange before Bitcoin’s hard fork in August 2017 could now take out Bitcoin Cash.