Gemini Founders Winklevoss Twins Sees London As Its Base Amid Hostile Environment in US
Amid the hostile stand undertaken by the US regulators towards crypto assets, a number of crypto firms recently have been mulling to shift base to overseas location and the latest to join the bandwagon is the popular crypto trading platform Gemini.
Crypto billionaire and founders of Gemini exchange were recently in London holding talks with top British financial regulators such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England.
Similar to Binance and Coinbase, crypto exchange Gemini is also one among this firms at odds with the US SEC. The securities regulator has gone hard after crypto firms following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX in November 2022.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss said: “There are so many headwinds right now in the US 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. And the UK is a great market to consider that. There’s a point in the future where we have a larger headcount outside of the US than in the US, and there’s probably a jurisdiction or country that ... maybe is larger than the US”.
While the US regulators have been laggard in bringing clear regulatory framework for crypto, that’s not the case in the rest of the world. The UK has been so far positive about the innovations in the crypto space and foresee this sector with a sense of optimism.
Previously, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had also spoken of making the UK a global hub for crypto. During their recent interview with City A.M, the Winklevoss twins advised UK lawmakers not to “politicise” their regulatory stand towards digital assets.
Besides, they also expressed optimism over the direction of crypto regulation undertaken by the UK, and said that the regulators have “forward thinking”. “We are encouraged [by] the state of regulation here. We know obviously the UK has a huge tradition of being a thoughtful regulator and a forward thinking regulator. And that’s why we chose to be here – there’s a lot of credibility. We made that decision to invest here years ago, and we’re here to express that we want to continue to do that and make the UK a home for crypto,” they said.
However, they expressed surprise over the recent regulatory stand by the UK Treasury Select Committee which stated that crypto trading should be treated akin to “gambling”.