Gemini review: score, licensing and risks
74/100SCORE · BMixed record
Grade B, very good
Gemini holds the strictest crypto licence in the United States, a NYDFS trust charter, and carries SOC 1 and SOC 2 audits that almost no competitor has. Its exchange has never been breached. Its Earn programme, however, lent customer funds to Genesis, which failed, freezing around 900 million dollars until 2024. The lesson generalises: a regulated custodian is not the same thing as a regulated yield product sitting on top of it.
The facts
- FOUNDED
- 2014
- HEADQUARTERS
- New York, United States
- CUSTODY
- Custodial, under a NYDFS trust charter with a segregated custody entity.
- MiCA / EEA
- Holds European authorisation. Confirm coverage for your country before depositing.
- US ACCESS
- Yes. Holds a New York State trust charter, which is the strictest US crypto licence there is.
- PROOF OF RESERVES
- Yes, plus SOC 1 and SOC 2 examinations.
- FEES
- Around 0.20 percent maker and 0.40 percent taker on ActiveTrader. The basic interface is much more expensive.
- ASSETS
- 70 plus
How the score breaks down
Each dimension is explained on the methodology page.
Where it is strong and where it is not
✓ Strengths
- NYDFS trust charter is the strictest crypto licence in the US
- SOC 1 and SOC 2 audits, which very few exchanges carry
- Clean security record on the exchange itself
✗ Weaknesses
- The Earn collapse froze customer funds for well over a year
- Expensive on the basic interface
- Short asset list
Incident history
2022
Its Earn product froze customer funds when lending partner Genesis failed. Around 900 million dollars was affected and repayment took until 2024. Gemini itself was not hacked, but customers could not access their money for a long time.
Our read
The exchange and custody business is among the best regulated anywhere. The Earn product was a different thing entirely: customer money was lent to a third party that failed, and it took until 2024 to make people whole. It is a clean example of why a yield product on an exchange is not the same risk as holding on that exchange.
COMPARE
RISK WARNING
Crypto assets are highly volatile and largely unregulated. You can lose everything you put in.
Nothing on this page is financial, investment or tax advice, and nothing here is a recommendation
to buy or sell any asset. Do your own research and never commit money you cannot afford to lose.