Winklevoss twins thank Trump for his help in wake of Gemini's disastrous IPO

By Tomi Kilgore

Gemini's stock surges toward its best-ever day after the crypto exchange gets approval to enter the hot prediction markets business

The Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron, thank President Donald Trump as their Gemini crypto exchange received CFTC approval to begin offering prediction markets to its U.S. customers.

Investors in Gemini Space Station shares finally had something to really cheer about, after the cryptocurrency exchange finally received approval to get into the prediction-markets business.

It's something that Winklevoss twins Tyler and Cameron, who founded Gemini (GEMI) have been trying to do for more than five years. And they were quick to thank the powers that be for making it happen.

"We thank President Trump for ending the Biden administration's war on crypto and Acting Chairman [Caroline] Pham for her hard work and dedication to help realize President Trump's vision for making America the crypto capital of the world," Chief Executive Tyler Winklevoss said in a statement late Wednesday.

Pham was designated as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's acting chairman on Jan. 20, the day of President Trump's inauguration.

Gemini, which doesn't have a space business, said late Wednesday that it received a Designated Contract Market license from the CFTC - something it first applied for in March 2020 - that allows Gemini to begin offering prediction markets.

"Prediction markets have the potential to be as big or bigger than traditional capital markets," said Gemini President Cameron Winklevoss. "Acting Chairman Pham understands this vision and its importance."

The good news comes a little over a week after Gemini's stock, which went public on Sept. 12, closed at its lowest-ever price of $9.70 on Dec. 2. That was 65.4% below the initial public offering price of $28 and 70.2% below the highest close of $32.52 recorded on its second day of trading (Sept. 15).

Gemini's Class A shares shot up 12.9% in premarket trading Thursday, putting it on track for its biggest one-day gain since going public.

Based on the latest filings on ownership, the Winklevoss twins owned 75.13 million Class B shares of Gemini as of Sept. 15, and have performance-based stock options - the right to buy - 3.18 million Class A shares.

Not including the Class A options, the value of the twins' stake in the company has declined by $1.25 billion, from when the IPO priced at $28 through Wednesday's closing price of $11.36.

The company said that its U.S. customers will soon be able to trade event contracts on its web interface using money in their Gemini account. Trading will be available on Gemini's app soon after.

Gemini's IPO was just bad timing, as it occurred less than a month before bitcoin (BTCUSD) peaked. Since bitcoin topped out on Oct. 6, it has tumbled 27.9%, while Gemini shares have dropped 55.1% through Wednesday.

-Tomi Kilgore

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12-11-25 0844ET