Bitcoin hasn’t been topping headlines like it once did but that doesn’t mean the virtual currency has disappeared. Its supports have been working overtime to bring some much-needed legitimacy to the cryptocurrency and one of its biggest advancements is just around the corner.
Gemini, the Bitcoin exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (of Facebook fame), announced Monday that it has received regulatory approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services to operate as a financial services firm.
Specifically, Gemini will be held to the same regulatory standards as a trust bank. It’s a significant milestone as the company is only the second Bitcoin-related business to ever receive a trust charter from the state’s financial regulator. The other, ItBit, received their trust charter this past spring according to The Wall Street Journal.
With the charter in hand, Gemini is set to open for business on Thursday.
Customers will be able to buy, sell and hold Bitcoins. Virtual currency deposits will be held in an offline storage, the Journal reports, while fiat deposits will be kept with Signature Bank. The service will be open to both individual and institutional investors although the twins are said to be focusing their efforts on attracting the latter type of clientele.
In 2013, the Winklevoss twins launched a Bitcoin index called Winkdex; it’s still awaiting regulatory approval.
