Crypto Exchange Gemini Turns to Ireland for European Headquarters

Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange run by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, announced it has chosen the Republic of Ireland as its new European home.

The announcement followed a meeting between the crypto co-founders, the Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, and the representatives of the Industrial Development Agency (IDA), the body responsible for foreign investment into Ireland.

“We’re grateful for the support of the Irish government and the IDA as we embark on the next, exciting steps in our journey. We look forward to being a part of and adding to the vibrant tech community in Dublin,” the Winklevoss brothers said in a statement shared with Decrypt. “Crypto is as transformative as the Internet, and we are committed to unlocking the opportunities it represents.”

Taking to Twitter, Gemini CEO Tyler Winklevoss said yesterday’s discussions in Dublin were centered on “the profound promise of crypto and the importance of common sense regulation to realize that promise.”

The CEO also stated that Gemini believes that Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), the recently adopted regulatory framework to govern cryptocurrencies in the European Union (EU), “is that common sense regulation.”

“We also announced that Gemini has made Ireland its European HQ. Onward!,” added Tyler Winklevoss.

Gemini was the first crypto company to be registered as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) by the Central Bank of Ireland in July 2022.

In an interview with The Irish Times, Gemini’s president Cameron Winklevoss said that Ireland will be the exchange’s “entry point” into the rest of Europe once the MiCA regulation is fully implemented across the EU by 2025.

Gemini to stay in the US

Amid a wave of wider crackdowns on cryptocurrency companies in the U.S., which also targeted rival companies Kraken and Coinbase, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in January charged Gemini with the sale of unregistered securities related to the now-terminated Earn program, with the regulator’s action prompting the exchange co-founders to begin looking at other jurisdictions.

Earlier this week, the Winklevoss twins visited London, where they met officials at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Bank of England, hinting at the UK as a possible new base for the crypto exchange.

“There are so many headwinds right now in the U.S. it’s hard to get anything done there. And so in order to keep building our business and invest in hiring, we have to look elsewhere,” Cameron Winklevoss told The Telegraph earlier this week, adding that “the UK is a great market to consider that.”

Still, Gemini has no intention of leaving the U.S. entirely.

“We’re not leaving the US, we’re going to continue to fight the good fight there. But we also understand that you can vote with your feet, and that’s our right and we will do that when faced with a hostile environment,” added Cameron Winklevoss.