On our mission to **_build the future of money,_** it’s critical that we build a safe and reliable platform for our customers to buy, sell, and store cryptocurrency. To that end, we are excited to announce that we are opening an office in Chicago — one of the world’s major financial centers. Our Chicago office will serve as an engineering hub and complement our existing office in Portland, Oregon and our Headquarters in New York City.

Chicago is the birthplace of commodities markets. Beginning in the late 19th century, farmers came to the Windy City to sell or lock in prices for their crop. Over the past 150 years, Chicago has grown into a financial powerhouse that is tightly linked to Wall Street and the global financial system at large. This legacy makes it a great home to build the future of money because it has an incredible pool of talented engineers who understand the unique skills and expertise necessary to build best-in class exchange infrastructure that meets the standards established by traditional financial markets.

The Chicago office will help us continue to scale for the future and continue to build on our existing [data centers and direct connectivity](https://www.gemini.com/blog/when-microseconds-matter-powering-gemini-for-highspeed-performance). If you are interested in joining our Chicago office, please email us at [careers@gemini.com](mailto:careers@gemini.com) and look out for openings on our [Careers page](https://gemini.com/careers/).

Since May, we’ve seen bitcoin increase in value and this week it surpassed its 17-month high. Trading volumes across the industry and mainstream interest in cryptocurrency are on the rise. The time has never been more right to double-down on our mission to build safe and reliable institutional-grade infrastructure.

Onward and Upward,

Tyler

Gemini Opens Chicago Office to Meet Growing Institutional Demand

We’re thrilled to announce that Gemini is launching today in France after registering as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) there earlier this year. This move is part of our continued dedication to the European market in a country that features a thriving Web3 and crypto ecosystem. 

Users in France can now open a Gemini account to deposit, trade, and store more than 70 digital assets using the web or app. Additionally, they can add funds using local payment rails, including EUR and GBP, through debit card, bank transfer, and Apple Pay. 

Advanced traders can also access ActiveTrader™ for sophisticated trading with over 80 pairs, while institutional clients can benefit from Gemini’s OTC desk and eOTC trading system, designed to execute large orders with deep liquidity and optimal pricing.

__Why Gemini Is Moving Into France__

Gemini’s entry into France is a strategic choice for our next phase of growth. France’s proactive engagement with and support of the crypto sector has fostered the development of a crypto hub, making it a key market for us.

Crypto adoption has grown steadily in France over the past two years resulting in positive sentiment around digital assets, according to Gemini’s recently released 2024 Global State of Crypto report. The percentage of crypto owners has risen to 18%, a two percentage-point increase since 2022—marking France as the country with the highest growth post-crypto winter. The report points to France being among the most pro-crypto countries surveyed, with a strong demand for secure, trusted players like Gemini. 

Previously unreleased data also indicates that respondents in France trust crypto more than respondents in the US and UK. This is likely influenced by the introduction of France’s VASP regime, and the European Union’s recent passing of the Markets in Crypto Assets regulation (MiCA) in 2023, a bill that offers a comprehensive framework and regulatory clarity for EU firms working in digital assets. In light of this, the report highlights how consumers in France are less concerned about the regulatory environment than two years ago.  

__Crypto Ownership Increases In France__

Gemini’s 2024 Global State of Crypto report shows France to be among the most pro-crypto countries surveyed, with a strong demand for secure, trusted players like Gemini.

Other key findings included:
- The majority of French crypto owners are HODLers: The majority of crypto holders (62%) in France view cryptocurrencies as long-term investments, with almost half (46%) having purchased their first crypto over three years ago. 
- Past owners likely to return to market: Nearly half (49%) of past crypto owners in France expressed they were somewhat likely to re-enter the market within the next year, 17% were very likely to buy crypto in the next year and 6% extremely likely to purchase crypto during that timeframe.
- Trust in crypto is higher in France: Nearly one-fourth of respondents in France (23%) said they trusted crypto, which is slightly higher than respondents in the US (21%) and UK (19%).
- Security is paramount: The most important factor (43%) that will boost consumer trust in the crypto industry in France are security measures that protect against fraud and scams.
- Regulatory concerns are dwindling: In 2024, just 32% of respondents in France said they still had regulatory concerns about the industry, down from 37% two years ago. 
- The gender split in France is one of the most positive globally: France boasts one of the most balanced gender splits in crypto adoption globally (35% of owners are women), despite a 10% reduction since 2022. Interestingly, a larger proportion of women (34%) than men (17%) first purchased crypto within the past year as the market rebounded.

“We believe in empowering individuals through crypto, and our expansion into France marks a significant milestone in our mission to make crypto accessible to everyone,” said Gillian Lynch, Gemini’s CEO of UK & Europe. “Gemini’s research into the French market shows its growing interest in digital assets, and a robust regulatory framework presents a unique opportunity to introduce our platform to the trading community and extend our presence in the European market over the coming months.”

French users can visit Gemini.com or download the app to sign up for Gemini today.

Onward and Upward!<br>
Team Gemini

Gemini Launches in France as Country’s Trust in Crypto Increases

Today we are excited to announce the acquisition of Shard X, a leading developer of secure multi-party computation (MPC) cryptographic technology.

Gemini will integrate Shard X’s MPC technology into our distributed, multi-site key management and signing infrastructure, markedly increasing the speed with which we can transfer customer assets and provide support for new asset listings and usage on the Gemini platform.

Gemini has more than $30 billion of crypto assets under custody, serving a range of individual and institutional customers. The addition of Shard X’s MPC will work in concert with all other aspects of Gemini’s custody offering, which includes role-based governance protocols, multiple layers of biometric access controls, and physical security to safeguard the sensitive key material, safely stored in government-rated hardware security modules (HSMs), that controls customers’ assets. 

Shard X, which will become a part of Gemini’s UK affiliate, was founded in 2018 by Yaniv Neu-Ner, Nikita Lesnikov, and Navaho De Wet with the goal of making the crypto ecosystem more secure. Shard X’s MPC technology generates key fragments which are used in a  distributed signing protocol without ever reconstructing a full private key. The team has developed a portable MPC implementation that aims to run in high security environments, such as hardware security modules, ensuring the highest integrity and secure processing of private key fragments that protect digital assets.

The acquisition of Shard X is yet another step forward in providing our customers with the products and services they demand as we remain laser focused on our mission of empowering the individual through crypto.

Onward and Upward,

Tyler Winklevoss  
Chief Executive Officer

Gemini Enhances Speed and Scale of Asset Listings, Transfers, and Usage With Shard X Acquisition

We are thrilled to announce that __trading and custody are now available for Dogecoin (DOGE)__, the funnest and friendliest crypto in the observable universe. 

Trading for DOGE is available on our API/FIX and Active Trader™ applications for USD, and on our mobile and web applications for USD, GBP, EUR, CAD, AUD, HKD and SGD pairs.

[With DOGE as part of the pack](https://www.gemini.com/prices/dogecoin), we now offer over __40 cryptos__ for trading and custody and another __11 cryptos__ for custody. Learn more about all the cryptos we support [here](https://www.gemini.com/prices). 

__Dogecoin Is No Joke__

Dogecoin is the people’s money. It’s organic, irreverent, and fun. It’s not forced on us by a government or some other central authority, it’s chosen by us, for us — by the people, for the people. Wow.

For many, the idea of emergent money that is not mandated by fiat is hard to grok. We’re used to being told what money is. For most of our lives, paternalistic money is all we’ve ever known...until Bitcoin.

Dogecoin continues Bitcoin’s tradition of giving the control of money back to the people. Yes, it’s a meme coin, but all money is a meme. And all money is both an idea and a matter of faith or belief in it. Over the multi-milennia history of money, the majority of money (be it shells, beads, precious metals, etc.) has been what we the people say it is and believe it is.

Dogecoin is the perfect vehicle to lay bare this fundamental truth about money. And in serving this purpose, DOGE has a legitimate claim to some value. It reflects the true history and nature of money. It turns the idea of money being something that’s issued by an authority — a conceit — on its head. They say there’s some truth in every joke. Dogecoin’s value is its punchline. 

Dogecoin is as much a statement as it is a currency. A statement about the philosophy of money. The democratization of money. It’s a protest against the fact that fiat money and the centralized financial system are not level playing fields. That they are built by a few and disproportionately favor those few. That too much power rests in too few hands.

And the world is waking up to this. Nothing captured this more than the GameStop saga. We saw first-hand how the system is rigged against the individual investor and we can’t unsee this. We saw how the individual investor can be more sophisticated than the most sophisticated institutional investors. Most importantly, we saw that the individual investor is ready to demand better. We don’t believe it's a coincidence that global interest in crypto and Dogecoin spiked after individual investors were GameStopped.

No one person, organization, or authority decides the value of a crypto – its value is determined by its supply and your demand for it. In Dogecoin’s case, its money supply is __transparent__, __predictable__, and __disinflationary__. The Dogecoin protocol issues a fixed amount of 5 billion DOGE every year. Over time, this fixed, annual issuance of 5 billion DOGE will represent a much smaller percentage of Dogecoin’s overall money supply. This means the growth rate of Dogecoin’s money supply is actually decreasing. In other words, Dogecoin’s money supply is disinflationary. This is not dissimilar to how [Ethereum](https://www.gemini.com/prices/ether)’s money supply of ether currently works. Recently, demand for Dogecoin has oustripped its supply. As a result, its price has been mooning. The people are speaking.

As the world ponders the popularity and meme-ification of a grammatically challenged dog, many are engaging in a referendum on centralized money and finance by joining the Dogecoin community. And the best part? They’re doing it with a smile. So amaze.

We’re not here to tell you what money is. We’ll leave that up to you. We’re here to empower you with __greater choice, independence, and opportunity__.

Onward and Upward!

Tyler Winklevoss  
Chief Executive Officer

*Updated: May 5, 2021*

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