Gemini is the latest crypto firm to see overseas operations

Gemini is the latest cryptocurrency exchange to move operations offshore amid a US attack.

The company – run by twin billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss – has revealed plans to grow in Asia and establish a crypto derivatives operation outside the US, Bloomberg reported on Monday (April 24).

With the move, Gemini joins companies like Coinbase in seeing overseas operations such as places like Hong Kong and crypto companies in the Middle East as the US puts more regulatory pressure on the industry.

“Given the progress of regulators in the Asia Pacific and Middle East towards clarifying their regimes, it seems likely that virtual asset service providers will continue to gravitate towards jurisdictions that provide greater clarity and specific guidance,” Vince Turcotte, Director of Hong Kong Digital Assets at market monitoring firm Eventus, Bloomberg reported.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said last week that crypto firms are going to start building in “offshore havens” if the US and UK don’t establish clear rules. He also suggested that his company could be one of them.

“Everything is on the table, including relocation or whatever is necessary,” Armstrong said at an industry conference when asked by former UK chancellor George Osbourne if the CEO could see Coinbase leaving the US

“I think the US has the potential to be an important market for crypto, but right now we don’t see the regulatory clarity we need,” he said. “I think if we don’t see regulatory clarity emerge in the US for a number of years, we may have to consider investing more elsewhere in the world.”

This lack of regulatory clarity contrasts with actions by the European Union, where lawmakers approved a crypto licensing framework, Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA).

The US, meanwhile, has so far mainly controlled the crypto space via enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a practice many industry players have criticized as opaque and unhelpful.

“The SEC’s Approach to the Crypto Economy [is] confusing, unclear, opaque and ultimately blind to the damage its regulatory enforcement strategy is doing to legitimate companies in this country,” said Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler testified before Congress last week that his agency has “a clear set of regulations built up over 90 years… [crypto firms] have no choice. They are generally non-compliant and must be followed.”

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