Gemini has received approval from the Irish Central Bank to serve as a Virtual Asset Service Provider. It’s the first crypto exchange in the country to register as a VASP.
Gemini has taken a step forward in establishing a presence in Ireland, as the exchange announced that it had received approval from the Central Bank of Ireland. That makes Gemini the first exchange to be registered as a Virtual Asset Service Provider in Ireland.
Gemini gets approval on the Emerald Isle
Gemini first opened its EU headquarters in Dublin in 2021, which was a sign of its growing ambition to expand. The European market is a lucrative one, and Gemini is competing against several exchanges for a share of the pie.
Gillian Lunch, Gemini’s Head of Ireland and EU, spoke about the desire to engage with regulators in the blog post, saying,
“Gemini was founded on the ethos of asking for permission, not forgiveness. Since day one, Gemini has engaged with regulators around the world to help shape thoughtful regulation that both protects consumers and fosters innovation.”
Users will be able to invest in crypto through both the euro and British pound and have access to over 100 cryptocurrencies. The exchange has also received authorization to serve as an Electronic Money Institution.
Gemini has been in the news for several reasons lately, though not all of them are good. Crypto exchanges have had a hard time because of the crypto winter, which has devastated any growth plans in the pipeline.
In the news
Gemini has often appeared in the headlines in recent weeks. The exchange had made the news for two rounds of layoffs, the first happening in the wake of the crypto winter and the second earlier this week. The exchange had been aggressively hiring last year, but the market crash saw those plans scuppered.
It has also been sued by the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission for “false and misleading statements.” The lawsuit had to do with its bitcoin futures products.
The exchange has been keen on working with regulators, as have other major centralized exchanges, Binance and Coinbase. Exchanges know that they will have to play within the rules and appease regulators to sustain their business, and as the crypto market grows, the need for protocols only increases.
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