Gemini Crypto Exchange Gains CFTC Approval For Prediction Markets
Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange founded by billionaire twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss over a decade ago, has received the necessary approval by federal regulators to launch prediction markets.
Gemini filed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for approval for its Gemini Titan LLC to be registered as a Designated Contract Market (DCM) in May. The DCM status, which switched from pending to designated this afternoon in the CFTC portal, allows Gemini to offer prediction markets nationwide.
Bloomberg reported in November that Gemini had been talking about launching its prediction products as soon as possible.
Prediction markets could provide Gemini with needed financial boost
Gemini filed for its IPO in mid-August and announced the launch of the public offering in September. In its initial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gemini stated that it wanted to offer trading of event contracts related to “economic, financial, political and sports forecasts.”
In a Q3 earnings call last month, Cameron Winklevoss confirmed the company had filed with the CFTC for DCM approval and expressed interest in prediction market trading.
“We’re very excited about these markets. We think it’s very early days,” Cameron said on the call. “It reminds us a lot of what Bitcoin felt like in 2012 when we first discovered it. And this idea that you can essentially build a market on anything, any kind of event, is fascinating and really a boundless opportunity.”
The prediction market pivot could help Gemini make up for some recent financial losses. According to its IPO prospectus, Gemini is a money-losing business. The company reported a loss of $159.5 million in the third quarter, the company’s first quarter as a publicly-traded entity.
The Winklevoss twins donated $2 million in Bitcoin to Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, citing his “pro-Bitcoin, pro-crypto, pro-business” stance. The press release from Gemini about the recent approval lauded CFTC acting chair Caroline Pham for continuing to “carry out President Trump’s mandate to make America the crypto capital of the world.”
“We thank President Trump for ending the Biden Administration’s War on Crypto and Acting Chairman Pham for her hard work and dedication to help realize President Trump’s vision for making America the crypto capital of the world,” Gemini’s CEO Tyler Winklevoss said in the release. “It’s incredibly refreshing and invigorating to have a President and a financial regulator who are pro crypto, pro innovation, and pro America.”
Gemini is latest crypto company to pursue prediction markets
Gemini’s latest move is the most recent sign of the crypto industry’s embrace of prediction markets. Crypto.com, whose Crypto.com | Derivatives North America (CDNA) is an approved DCM, has been a leading event contract provider in the U.S., partnering this year with the likes of Underdog, Fanatics, Truth Social, Hollywood.com, and MyPrize to facilitate prediction markets through their platforms.
Crypto exchange Kraken announced in October that it had acquired the U.S.-based futures and options market Small Exchange, which has CFTC approval as a DCM. A Kraken representative confirmed to Prediction News following the announcement that the company had ongoing interest in prediction markets.
Another large U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, also appears to be prediction market bound. Coinbase’s vice president of product, Max Branzburg, told CNBC over the summer that the company plans to become an “everything exchange,” with new on-chain features, including stock trading and prediction markets, being rolled out in the coming months.
Last month, internet sleuth Jane Manchun Wong discovered a non-public web page on Coinbase that showed it was working on providing prediction market offerings via Kalshi. Coinbase will be announcing new features in a livestream event on X on Dec. 17.