How Far We’ve Come

When we first heard of Bitcoin in the summer of 2012, we were blown away by this new form of money that worked like email; purpose-built for the Internet. The energy and passion of the Bitcoin community was something we had never felt before — it was electric. But it was also a complete Wild West and not even close to being ready for prime time. Those early days — equal parts exciting and scary — are exactly why we founded Gemini; to build trust in this nascent technology.

Even though our industry is still young and there is much work ahead, the days of Mt. Gox feel like ancient history. Every day, we march forward, leaving our former self behind; almost unrecognizable. And there’s no better way to measure how far our industry has come than by taking a good look at its past.

In a new book called Bitcoin Billionaires, author Ben Mezrich deftly captures the colorful, frontier days of the cryptocurrency revolution. Ben is no stranger to writing about technology revolutions. His book Accidental Billionaires, which was later made into the movie The Social Network, chronicled the early days of social-networking, when many still dismissed it as just a fad. In some sense, Ben’s choice of our industry as his subject matter is both a rite of passage and another indication that we are onto something.

Ben first reached out to us in the winter of 2017 to catch up and learn more about what we had been working on since he last wrote about us in 2009. I don’t think either of us ever imagined that our paths would cross again in the same way. But early on in our conversation, two things became clear; Ben immediately understood the promise of cryptocurrency and was serious about telling its story to the world. This ultimately made us and many others comfortable with sharing our experiences with him.

Whether you are a longtime HODLer or have just arrived, we think you will enjoy this book and find it worthwhile — it’s easier to understand where we’re headed as an industry if you have a good sense of where we started. Nothing captures this better than Bitcoin Billionaires. We encourage you to pick up a copy and add it to your summer reading list — happy reading!

Onward and Upward,

Tyler + Cameron