Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange launched by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, has expanded its footprint into Chicago. A Gemini spokesperson told CCN that they are “opening [the new office] with five employees.” One of them, Andrew Page, appears to have been poached from Coinbase, base on his LinkedIn profile. Page spent one month as senior product manager at Coinbase – from March till April 2019 – in Chicago and has most recently been named product manager at Gemini. According to a post by Page, Gemini is hiring:
“I am very excited to announce that I have joined Gemini as a Product Manager. I’m looking forward to working with this team to deliver class-leading trading systems and products in this exciting industry. Also, we are hiring! Please reach out to me if you’re interested.”
Excited to announce the opening of our Chicago office and expand our footprint in one of the world’s major financial centers! The time has never been more right to double-down on our mission to build safe and reliable institutional-grade infrastructure https://t.co/nuZWrZMXgF pic.twitter.com/hhsT7D0qcI
— Gemini (@Gemini) June 27, 2019
Gemini will count among its new neighbors two regulated derivatives exchanges – the CME and Cboe, the former of which is the main trading platform for bitcoin futures. In the announcement, Tyler Winklevoss says they are launching a Chicago office to meet “growing institutional demand.” This suggests that big investors are increasingly willing to come off the sidelines, especially given the regulated nature of the bitcoin exchanges that are domiciled in the city.
Crypto Summer in Chicago
The exchange appears to be striking while the iron’s hot with Crypto Summer showing signs of arriving. According to Tyler Winklevoss in the announcement:
“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.”
Gemini only supports a handful of cryptocurrencies – bitcoin, ether, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and Zcash, according to the website. They are also behind the Gemini Dollar (GUSD) stablecoin. Coinbase supports numerous coins across Coinbase.com and its professional trading platforms.
Meanwhile, Coinbase has also been suffering C-suite level defections over the past six months or so, and Gemini is just one of the other options that talent has to choose from. With the opening of a Chicago location, Gemini just lifted its profile.
In addition to Chicago, Gemini also has offices in Portland, Ore. and New York, the latter of which is their headquarters.