Gemini Europe, a cryptocurrency exchange founded and managed by the Winklevoss twins, informed of changes in its current directorate last week. According to the filling with Companies House on October 12, one of the billionaire brothers, Cameron Winklevoss, is no longer a director at Gemini.
Alongside Winklevoss, the company has terminated Blair Halliday. Their roles were taken by Stephanie Herriger and Gillian Lynch (the Head of Gemini Ireland), as per the regulatory filing. Halliday has joined another cryptocurrency company, Kraken, where he serves as the Managing Director responsible for its operations in the UK.
In July, the local central bank registered the Gemini crypto exchange in Ireland as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP). For Gemini, it was a huge recognition, as no other cryptocurrency service provider was approved as VASP before.
Winklevoss Capital Management During Crypto Winter
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, or the “Winklevoss Brothers,” are widely known for running a popular crypto exchange and their Winklevoss Capital Management fund, which invest in crypto startups.
On their project list, you can find names like Slingshot (trading platform), Taxbit (tax service), Praxis (crypto state), and 50 other companies, according to their online shared portfolios. However, the prolonged cryptocurrency slump and cold crypto winter have caused business not to go as well as before.
Startups are still facing headwinds from the TerraUSD ecosystem collapse and a visible downtrend on two main crypto assets: bitcoin and ether, which are down more than 50% from January 2022.
Therefore, the recent news that Gemini announced a workforce reduction came as no surprise to market observers. In June, Gemini shared it had relieved 10% of its staff in the United States, citing the cryptocurrency winter, which hit the price of major tokens and reduced the industry’s activity as a whole.
Just a month later, in July, Gemini executed another round of layoffs. As reported by TechCrunch at that time, an anonymous source “close to the company” noted a reduction of 68 staff members (7%). During the second round of cutbacks, the move was allegedly motivated by an “extreme” need to cut costs.
