In the world of crypto-enthusiasts, there seem to be two philosophical extremes. On one end, we have Libertarians who believe cryptocurrencies are the key to unlocking true financial freedom. On the other, you have those who view it as a next-generation financial tool that should still be subject to many of the same regulations and governances as fiat currency.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are firmly in the second camp. They want to work with governments and regulators to play by the rules because they believe it's the key to unlocking mainstream adoption.
In addition to their desire to develop and adhere to regulations, they are incredibly security-minded. The book Bitcoin Billionaires outlines the measures they took when they first started buying bitcoin. They used laptops that would never be connected to the internet, which they later destroyed with sledgehammers. They rolled dice to generate random keys, and they split physical copies of their keys into separate pieces to be stored in lockboxes at different small banks peppered throughout the country.
So, yeah, they take security pretty seriously. When you combine that with a desire to lean into regulation and work with governing bodies, it gives you a lot to feel good about with their exchange, Gemini. (Or perhaps a lot to feel bad about, depending on where you land on the spectrum I mentioned at the beginning of the article!)
Gemini isn't perfect. It doesn't have nearly as many cryptocurrencies listed as bigger exchanges like Coinbase and Binance. Direct deposit from my bank also wasn't available, and their Earn program doesn't offer rates that are as high as competitors Celsius, Nexo, and BlockFi for Bitcoin.
But, in my opinion, that's a tradeoff, and in exchange, I get security and peace of mind.
I trust that the Winklevoss twins are doing everything they can, by the book, and that there's no smoke & mirrors. I'm skeptical of practices used by Celsius and Nexo to pay returns in their own currencies and Decrypt just published an article that questions the trustworthiness of BlockFi.
Gemini's Earn program is nothing to scoff at, too. You can earn more than 7% on stablecoins and 3-7% on many popular altcoins, a handful of which are shown in the screenshot below.
Because of the competitive rates on some coins and my perceived superior security practices, I've switched some of my dollar-cost-averaging to Gemini using their automatic deposits. Once per week, my debit card is automatically charged to buy small amounts of Chainlink and Bitcoin Cash, and once per week, I come in and dump those funds into my Earn account to begin accruing interest.
Interest accrues daily for compounding, and you can pull funds from Earn into your trading account whenever you wish for no fees. It makes Gemini a great place to buy, hold, and trade funds.
If you're curious about Gemini, give it a shot. You'll even earn $15 in BTC the first time you transfer funds into your Earn account if you sign up using this link. How's that for an incentive to try?
Now, in defense of Celsius and BlockFi, I like and use them. I use all of these services and distribute funds between them, allowing me to simultaneously take advantage of higher rates and mitigate the risk associated with them individually. (None of this is financial advice. I'm just a person on the internet telling you what I do.)
Lead image by Moosa Haleem on Unsplash
The sign-up link above is a referral link that earns me a small reward. I think Gemini is pretty great, and I would be grateful if you used my link, but it's worth checking out even if you skip the referral.
