Gemini Trust Company Welcomes Former NYDFS Regulators Maria Filipakis and Matthew Homer to Board of Managers

As Gemini continues its mission to provide safe, secure, and innovative crypto products and services to our customers, we look to demonstrated leaders to help us on this journey. To that end, we are thrilled to announce that Maria Filipakis and Matthew Homer have been appointed to the company’s Board of Managers.

With experiences spanning state financial regulatory agencies, fintech, and cybersecurity, Maria and Matthew will provide expert perspectives on our business and strategy as we continue to navigate the dynamic world of crypto.

“Maria and Matt’s significant experience working to ensure the safety and soundness of the crypto markets will be incredibly additive to our current outstanding Board of Managers,” said Noah Perlman, Chief Operating Officer at Gemini. “Gemini has an eight-year track record of doing the right thing for our customers. Adding Maria and Matt to the Board demonstrates our continued dedication to growing the crypto ecosystem in a compliant and regulated way.”

Meet Maria Filipakis

Maria brings with her vast experience across the fields of fintech, cybersecurity, and insurance, having held leadership roles in both the public and private sectors. She is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Topside Group, a full-service consulting firm specializing in financial services and regulatory issues.

Maria was also the first Executive Deputy Superintendent of the Capital Markets Division at the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). In that role, she oversaw various teams consisting of lawyers, risk, and investment specialists, and examiners providing expertise in enterprise risk management, anti-money laundering controls, cybersecurity, and financial analysis for over 3,000 financial institutions regulated by the NYDFS.

Among Maria’s many notable accomplishments at the NYDFS, she led the agency’s cybersecurity initiatives, from conducting industry-wide cybersecurity surveys and assessments, to revising the cyber examinations, and to drafting the critical cybersecurity regulation (Part 500), which has served as a blueprint for other federal and state regulators.

Outside her work as a leading state financial regulator, Maria held various influential roles serving on the New York Governor’s Cyber Security Advisory Board, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors Emerging Payments Task Force, and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Cybersecurity Task Force.

Meet Matthew Homer

Matthew also brings outstanding experience to the Gemini Trust Company board, having held public and private leadership roles across the fintech, crypto, and policy spheres. Following various roles in federal and state government, Matthew is currently Executive in Residence at Nyca Partners, a fintech venture capital firm.

Prior to entering the venture capital space, Matthew was the first ever Executive Deputy Superintendent for the Research and Innovation Division at the New York Department of Financial Services. In this leadership role, he oversaw the agency’s strategic and policy efforts related to fintech broadly, including the Department’s crypto responsibilities. He also chaired the Conference of State Bank Supervisor’s FinTech Steering Group.

Before joining NYDFS, Matthew led policy and research at Quovo, a New York company providing open banking functionality for the financial services ecosystem, leading up to the company’s acquisition by Plaid. He also worked across the federal government, including as a senior policy advisor for digital finance at U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and as a policy official at the FDIC where he focused on emerging technology and consumer protection. He has served in advisory roles to the United Nations, World Bank, Aspen Institute, and Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance.

We are pleased to welcome Maria and Matthew to the Gemini Trust Company Board of Managers. Their wealth of experience across industries and regulatory agencies will undoubtedly provide our company with unparalleled insight into the ever-changing world of crypto as we continue on our mission to unlock the next era of financial, creative, and personal freedom.

Onward and Upward!

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss