God save the queen: Gemini brings the UK crypto

New-York based cryptocurrency exchange Gemini launched its trading platform in the United Kingdom after receiving regulatory approval.

According to an announcement, Gemini is bringing all of its services to UK residents while also rolling-out pounds sterling support and custody. Firm’s CEO Tyler Winklevoss said:

“Going live with our full services available in GBP in the UK is another exciting step forward in Gemini’s international expansion, advancing our mission to empower individuals and organizations around the world through crypto.”

Winklevoss also said that the United Kingdom “is a global center of financial innovation with a stringent and progressive regulatory regime.” Lastly, he pointed out that the trading platform aims to facilitate the trading and investment activities of both retail and institutional customers.

Gemini already launched its new features and additional local support alongside new account funding options for the UK-based users. Local customers can acquire crypto assets with their debit card or make GBP deposits to fund their account immediately through their banks via wire transfers.

The announcement follows this week’s launch of Wealthsimple Crypto, which calls itself Canada’s first regulated cryptocurrency exchange. It is also powered by Gemini’s systems.

“Our custodian for your cryptocurrency is Gemini Custody—one of the most trusted names in crypto, with the highest U.S. government security rating—who will keep your investment safe,” said the firm’s product manager, Danish Ajmeri. “It’s also insured—Gemini also has $200M in cold storage insurance—until you want to sell it.”

Gemini’s UK expansion follows approval by the local Financial Conduct Authority, which granted the firm an Electronic Money Institution license. The exchange claims to be one of the first companies approved by the regulator as part of its new European Fifth Money Laundering Directive (MLD5) crypto registration standard.

As Modern Consensus reported at the end of 2019, those same new EU regulations resulted in several cryptocurrency firms shutting down, with the firms cited concerns over user privacy. Crypto payments processor Bottle Pay said:

“The amount and type of extra personal information we would be required to collect from our users would alter the current user experience so radically, and so negatively, that we are not willing to force this onto our community.”