NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
Winklevoss twins file paperwork to make Bitcoin Exchange Gemini Trust legal
The famous Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron, are one step closer to setting up a regulated Bitcoin exchange in New York with the pair filing the paperwork for a Limited Liability Trust company.
Described in our previous coverage as a “NASDAQ for Bitcoin,” the Gemini Trust will allow users to legally trade and exchange Bitcoin through the service.
Like itBit previously, the filing of the paperwork, if eventually approved, would deliver trust company status by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS,) organized under New York State banking law, meaning the company would be in full compliance with both New York and federal law.
Although sounding a bit like a bank, a trust is a different type of financial institution, Professor at the New York Law School Houman Shadab explained to Reuters:
Under New York state’s banking law, a trust company has all the powers of a bank to take deposits and make loans, alongside certain fiduciary powers such as acting as an agent for governmental bodies…
Examples of trust companies in New York include securities custodian the Depository Trust Company, the wealth and asset manager Northern Trust, and the Bank of New York Mellon.
Good for Bitcoin
Although not the first to be regulated in this way (to be precise, they’ll be the second), if the Gemini Trust gains approval, it’s good for Bitcoin as the services provided by a Trust are held to a much higher standard of oversight and requirements, versus a regular, everyday Bitcoin Exchange that operates under a money transmitter license.
For the Winklevii, it’s another big leap forward in the undoubted life-long pursuit of making more money than Mark Zuckerberg, who, as they claim, cheated them out of Facebook in its early days; if you don’t know the story, the movie The Social Network, while claimed to be a not entirely accurate portrayal of what actually occurred, will give you a rough idea.
The Gemini Trust will join the twins’ other major play in the Bitcoin space, the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust ETF, and some other not so successful plays including BitInstant Inc, run in conjunction with convicted criminal Charlie Shrem, and currency exchange platform Winklevoss Index, LLC.
Image credit: techcrunch/Flickr/CC by 2.0
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