Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images
- The crypto platform Gemini, founded by the Winklevoss twins, has more than doubled the crypto assets it manages this year.
- Gemini now has crypto assets worth over $25 billion in its custody.
- Even though crypto assets have continued to soar in popularity this year, prices have fallen recently.
- Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.
The crypto platform Gemini, which was founded by the Winklevoss twins, has more than doubled the crypto assets under its custody so far this year. It now oversees assets worth over $25 billion.
"Tracking with the impressive growth of the crypto market this year and increased participation from institutional investors, we have more than doubled our crypto under custody since the beginning of 2021," Gemini said in a statement on Tuesday.
Gemini's institutional clients include asset managers, hedge funds, trading firms and corporate treasuries according to the statement.
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who funded Gemini in 2014, have been avid proponents of cryptocurrencies for years. Through Winklevoss Capital Management, they also provide seed funding and other support to early-stage startups.
Last month, the company launched Gemini Fund Solutions, which aims to support fund managers with digital asset based funds including crypto ETFs. It helped launch the first bitcoin and ether ETFs in North America.
The platform offers various services and products, such as crypto trading, asset storage in wallets, a dollar-backed stablecoin called Gemini with the option to use it in retail stores and custodianship.
Through Gemini Custody, the platform is able to take custody over a wide variety of digital currencies for clients, effectively providing it with the role of a bank offering savings accounts. Clients can store crypto assets safely, withdraw assets, move them into sub-accounts, trade on Gemini's exchange and know that their funds are insured.
This specific area of Gemini has now more than doubled in size. After starting to grow significantly towards the end of 2020, crypto assets have continued to surge in popularity and value this year.
On January 1st, each bitcoin was worth just over $29,000, but the price accelerated to near $65,000 last week, Since then, there has been a slight cooling and it was last trading around $55,692.00, according to Bloomberg data.
Ethereum's ether token similarly hit a record high earlier this month, exceeding $2,500 for the first time after starting the year at just over $730.
The peaks coincided with the listing of US crypto exchange Coinbase on the Nasdaq. The company went public via a direct listing earlier this month and instantly became one of the top 100 most valuable companies in the US.