Gemini crypto exchange: who owns it, how it works and its fees

Who owns and runs Gemini

Gemini was founded in 2014 by the twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, according to the prospectus for its 2025 initial public offering. Its about page lists Tyler Winklevoss as chief executive and Cameron Winklevoss as president.

The listed company is Gemini Space Station, Inc., a Nevada corporation formed in February 2025. Its Class A shares trade on Nasdaq under the ticker GEMI. The IPO priced at $28 a share on 11 September 2025. The company is a holding company: its main asset is a controlling interest in Gemini Space Station, LLC, which owns the operating businesses. The prospectus states that after the offering the founders held 94.7% of the voting power for electing directors, so the company is founder-controlled even though it is public.

Which Gemini company you deal with depends on your state. Gemini's user agreement (updated 19 February 2026) assigns customers as follows:

Gemini Titan, LLC holds a designated contract market licence from the CFTC for Gemini Predictions, the prediction-markets product launched in December 2025. Gemini also issues the Gemini Dollar stablecoin, which has its own profile on our Gemini Dollar (GUSD) page; this page covers the exchange.

What Gemini offers

Gemini's quarterly report for the period ended 31 March 2026 lists a mobile and web exchange, wallet infrastructure and custody, OTC trading for institutions, the GUSD stablecoin, staking, a credit card with crypto rewards, Gemini Predictions and spot margin trading. The about page adds perpetual futures and a clearing service. Retail trading runs through two modes on one account:

• The Gemini app (Gemini mode): instant and recurring buys and sells at a quoted price that includes a spread and a fee shown before you confirm.
• ActiveTrader: an order-book interface with published maker and taker fees, also used by the API.

The Gemini Credit Card is a Mastercard World Elite card issued by WebBank. Gemini's card page lists no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees, and rewards of 4% on gas, EV charging and transit (on the first $300 of such spending each month, then 1%), 3% on dining, 2% on groceries and 1% on everything else, paid in bitcoin or one of more than 50 other assets. Our crypto card ratings cover cards in this category.

Gemini fees

ActiveTrader. The ActiveTrader fee schedule, effective 1 September 2026, has 13 tiers. Your tier is set by either your 30-day trading volume or your total asset balance in USD, whichever gives the lower fee, and it is recalculated daily. No token holding is involved.

At the entry tier a $1,000 order that fills immediately pays the 1.20% taker fee, or $12; the same order resting as a maker order pays $6. RLUSD/USD, USDC/GUSD and GUSD/USD trade at 0% for both sides, and other stablecoin pairs at 0% maker and 0.01% taker. Derivatives have a separate schedule charged in GUSD.

Gemini app. The app's fee schedule (effective 15 February 2026) does not publish fixed rates. It says fees depend on payment method, order size, market conditions, jurisdiction and asset, that instant and recurring orders include a spread Gemini may keep, and that the exact cost is shown on the review screen. For how spread, fees and network costs add up, see our explainer on crypto trading fees.

Transfers. Under the transfer fee schedule, ACH and wire deposits are free, debit card deposits cost 3.49% and PayPal deposits 2.5%. ACH withdrawals are free and USD wire withdrawals cost $25. Crypto deposits are free, and crypto withdrawals carry a dynamic network fee that Gemini says it does not keep. Moving assets from Gemini Custody back to the exchange costs $125 per withdrawal.

Where Gemini is available

Gemini's IPO prospectus said it served users in more than 60 countries as of 31 July 2025 and held money transmission licences in every US state that requires them. On 5 February 2026 the company announced it would wind down operations in the United Kingdom, the European Union, other European jurisdictions and Australia, cutting about 200 jobs and exiting office leases in London, Malta and San Francisco, according to its first-quarter 2026 report. Anyone with an account outside the US should check Gemini's notices for their region on timing and withdrawals.

Security and custody

Exchange balances at Gemini are custodial. Gemini's security page says it holds SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 examinations and cites ISO 27001 assessments and annual penetration tests. Two-factor authentication is on by default for sign-in and withdrawals, hardware security keys are supported, and withdrawals can be limited to approved addresses. Gemini also states that it has no phone support and contacts customers only by email from a gemini.com address, which is a practical test for spotting impersonators.

The Earn program and regulatory record

Gemini Earn, launched on 1 February 2021, let customers lend crypto to Genesis Global Capital, LLC in return for interest. Genesis suspended withdrawals on 16 November 2022 and later filed for bankruptcy. The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) found that Gemini had not adequately vetted or monitored Genesis and said more than 200,000 Earn customers could not access their assets.

• February 2024, NYDFS: Gemini committed to return at least $1.1 billion to Earn customers through the Genesis bankruptcy, contribute $40 million to that process and pay a $37 million fine for compliance failures.
• May–June 2024, distributions: Gemini says Earn users received about 97% of their assets in kind on 29 May 2024 and the final 3% on 20 June 2024, for 100% of the assets owed as of the suspension date. On 14 June 2024 Gemini announced a settlement of the lawsuit the New York Attorney General had filed in October 2023.
• January 2025, CFTC: a federal court ordered Gemini Trust to pay a $5 million penalty, finding that statements it made to the CFTC in 2017, while a bitcoin futures contract settling on Gemini's auction price was being self-certified, were false or misleading.

Alternatives by function

Other US-accessible exchanges differ in which entity serves your state, how fees are tiered and which products are offered; our exchange ratings compare published trading costs across the venues we cover. Gemini's trading costs are assessed separately in our Gemini review; this profile describes the company and does not grade it.