The much-anticipated Bitcoin Halving is fast approaching on May 11.  We at Gemini could not be more excited to witness another great milestone in Bitcoin’s lifecycle.
 
The halving is a reaffirmation of one of Bitcoin’s fundamental truths and greatest value propositions: __Bitcoin is predictable, reliable, and trustworthy.__
 
But first, a quick refresher. Bitcoin transactions are validated, aggregated into blocks, and added to the Bitcoin blockchain by miners through proof-of-work, a process that requires specialized equipment and a lot of power to run it. In exchange for their time, effort, and costs, miners who are successful in adding a block to the bitcoin blockchain are rewarded with freshly minted bitcoin. The Bitcoin protocol, written so that no more than 21 million bitcoin could ever be created, determines how many new bitcoins miners receive per block. Every 210,000 blocks, which occurs roughly every four years, the protocol is designed to automatically “half” the block reward. On May 11, the block reward will reduce from 12.5 to 6.25 BTC.
 
The price of one bitcoin was about $12 at the first halving in 2012, when the block reward decreased from 50 to 25 BTC. At the second halving in 2016, when the reward went from 25 to 12.5 BTC, bitcoin was priced at about $650 and since then it has risen ever higher — it’s currently trading at more than $8,000 today. 

But, the short- and medium-term effects of the next halving on the price of bitcoin are widely debated. Some traders expect the price to skyrocket as supply decreases and demand surges. Others expect a price drop as some miners exit the market. Many believe that the very nature of the halving, its predictability, is well known, understood, and already priced-in to bitcoin’s current and future market value. 
 
One issue that is not in question, however, is that Bitcoin’s monetary policy stands in stark contrast, yet again, to traditional monetary policy. Recently, governments across the world have been injecting trillions of dollars into the global economy. While this kind of stimulus can be necessary or helpful, especially in times like these, inflationary forces can potentially reduce the future value of fiat currencies. Bitcoin’s supply remains steady, determined by an unchanging mathematical formula.
 
In 2009 Bitcoin’s invention and implementation opened our eyes to the thrilling idea that blockchain and cryptocurrency can shift the balance of power from governments and corporations to you, the individual. Over the past 11 years countless new tokens have come to market, addressing issues ranging from privacy on the internet to broadening access to financial products to the decentralization of content storage and delivery. 

Our passion for crypto remains undiminished as we explore these ideas and are inspired by their possibility. But, throughout it all, our attention has never shifted away from Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency. The halving is a great reminder that Bitcoin is functioning as it was intended – predictable, reliable, and still going strong.

Onward and Upward,

Eric Winer, VP of Engineering


Learn more about bitcoin and the halving on our [bitcoin price](https://gemini.com/prices/bitcoin) page. 


Bitcoin Halving is a design attribute of the Bitcoin protocol. Halving reduces block rewards by a half. Read more from Eric Winer, our VP of Engineering

What does Bitcoin Halving Mean?

Bitcoin Halving: Knowing Is ‘Halve’ the Battle

Recent events in the cryptocurrency industry have elevated an important conversation about how cryptocurrencies are custodied by individuals or exchanges. People have many choices when it comes to storing their crypto assets, from self-custody options like a hardware or software wallet, to regulated and unregulated exchanges. There are varying opinions around which approach is best, but each comes with its own tradeoffs and level of risk that a consumer should understand and be comfortable taking on.

We believe that for most investors, storing their cryptocurrency on a regulated and secured crypto exchange and qualified custodian, such as Gemini, is the right approach for the many reasons we will discuss below.

Trust has been the foundation of Gemini’s business — our product — since we [launched](https://www.gemini.com/blog/and-were-live). As a regulated cryptocurrency exchange and qualified custodian, we’ve invested years of effort and millions of dollars in technical and control measures to help prevent undue losses and nefarious activity. As observers of our recent [ad campaign](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/winklevoss-twins-gemini-ad-campaign-hopes-to-ignite-the-peoples-movement-2019-01-09) know, we have a [strong point of view](https://www.gemini.com/blog/geminis-principles-for-the-crypto-revolution) about the importance of regulatory oversight, compliance, and security in the crypto space. We’ve backed up that point of view by demonstrating our protections by [completing](https://www.gemini.com/blog/gemini-completes-soc-2-review-a-worlds-first-for-a-cryptocurrency-exchange-and-custodian) a SOC 2 Type 1 review conducted by Deloitte & Touche LLP, a Big Four auditor.

As you embark on the crypto journey, it’s important to determine what approach is right for you. Do you prefer storing your dollars under your mattress instead of a bank? If so, then the “digital mattress” equivalent of a hardware or software wallet is right for you. If you prefer to keep your assets in a regulated financial institution, then a regulated financial institution is the best option to store your cryptocurrency. This will require you to identify which [organizations to trust](https://www.forbes.com/sites/dantedisparte/2019/01/29/gemini-the-winklevoss-twins-break-new-ground-on-digital-trust/#5062ebf826b6), and that starts by understanding the protections and protocols necessary to safely store, secure, or facilitate access to your holdings.

When assessing an organization’s custody services, there are several measures you should consider. For instance, what jurisdiction does the organization operate in? What type of licensing does the company have? Is there regulatory oversight? What is the background of the executive team? What are the company’s core values? Was the company built with a security-first mentality?

Gemini is a safe place to buy, sell, and store cryptocurrency — not because we say it is — but because of the measures we have put place to protect your crypto and the independent third parties that verify them. They are as follows:

[**Redundancy with keys**](https://gemini.com/security/) **(and the facilities and devices that store keys).**

*   All of our private keys, which are used to sign cryptocurrency transactions, are custodied offsite in the secure, guarded, geographically distributed facilities of our Cold Storage system. These keys exist on hardware security modules (HSMs) that meet or exceed [FIPS 140–2 Level 3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIPS_140-2#Level_3) U.S. government computer security standards.
*   Multisignature technology (or “Multisig”) provides added security from attacks and increased fault tolerance. We have contingencies in place in the event of a catastrophe or if all of our facilities and equipment in an entire region were to become inaccessible or destroyed.

[**Digital asset insurance**](https://www.gemini.com/blog/digital-assets-insurance) **and capital reserves.**

*   A small portion of crypto are held in Gemini’s online “Hot Wallet” environment, with key management via dedicated FIPS 140–2 Level 2 HSMs provided through the AWS Cloud. We [maintain insurance](https://www.gemini.com/legal/user-agreement#section-digital-asset-insurance) (from a combination of underwriters) in an aggregate amount that is _greater than the value of our customer’s crypto assets held in our Hot Wallet_.
*   We also maintain capital reserves, which are required of us as a New York trust company and fiduciary under the New York Banking Law. All customer U.S. dollar fiat funds held in omnibus accounts are held at FDIC-insured banks in the United States, and these funds are segregated and legally distinct from our business and operating accounts. Capital reserve requirements help ensure that Gemini has sufficient capital to continue operations and support our customers.

**Extensive internal controls.**

*   Multiple signatories are required to transfer funds out of Cold Storage. Our CEO (Tyler Winklevoss) and President (Cameron Winklevoss) are unable to individually or jointly transfer customer funds into or out of our Hot Wallet or Cold Storage system.

Customers seeking additional protections have even more options. For large crypto holders, we offer [custody services](https://gemini.com/custody/) with segregated addresses. And for any  Gemini account, [whitelisting](https://gemini24.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001411543-How-do-I-enable-withdrawal-address-whitelisting-) can be enabled to prevent assets from being sent to unknown addresses.

We designed all of these measures from our firm belief that using a regulated, trusted, qualified custodian is the best option for storing cryptocurrency holdings of any size. Because we serve both individuals and institutions, we can offer bank-level protections to hobbyist traders and professional users alike. As discussed above, using a hardware wallet, software wallet, or unregulated exchange is the digital equivalent of keeping cash under your mattress: It’s an option — and perhaps a useful one for small amounts (just like having $20 in your back pocket is) — but it gets riskier as your holdings grow.

Gemini’s team recognizes that cryptocurrencies emerged from a combination of technological innovation and distrust of traditional, centralized institutions. But regulated, licensed financial institutions still have an important place in the world of cryptocurrencies, alongside new decentralized alternatives.

True interoperability between the worlds of fiat currencies and cryptocurrency is crucial to keeping customers safe. **_As your bridge to the future of money_**, Gemini is advancing a future of crypto without chaos — one without catastrophic, unnecessary losses that harm consumers and stunt industry progress. We continually revisit the protections and protocols we use to store, secure, and facilitate access to your crypto holdings — and we hope all of our peers in the crypto space will do the same.

Onward and Upward,

Eric Winer, VP of Engineering

Cold Storage, Keys & Crypto: How Gemini Keeps Assets Safe

We are thrilled to announce support for [Bitcoin Cash trading](https://gemini.com/prices/bitcoin-cash "Bitcoin Cash Price Page") and custody on Gemini. Beginning Saturday, December 8th at **9:30am ET** you will be able to deposit Bitcoin Cash into your Gemini account. Trading will begin on Monday, December 10th at **1pm ET**. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is the fifth digital asset available on the Gemini platform, joining [Bitcoin](https://gemini.com/prices/bitcoin "Bitcoin Price Page"), [Ether](https://gemini.com/prices/ethereum "Ether Price Page"), [Litecoin](https://gemini.com/prices/litecoin "Litecoin Price Page"), and [Zcash](https://gemini.com/prices/zcash "Zcash Price Page"). As such, we will be offering the following new trading pairs and services:

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*GjWaCxrf05zFcnECoZZ9CQ.png)

Bitcoin Cash, a fork of the Bitcoin network, was recently forked into two distinct networks and blockchains: Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV. At this time, we will **_only be providing support for the Bitcoin ABC network_** and we will be referring to it as **Bitcoin Cash** with ticker: **BCH**. We have added replay protection to all BCH withdrawals from the Gemini platform to ensure transactions are only valid on the Bitcoin ABC blockchain. Any cryptocurrency sent to Gemini over a blockchain that we do not support, such as Bitcoin SV (BSV), will be **_invalid and irrecoverable_**. We are continuing to evaluate Bitcoin SV over the coming weeks or months, and we may or may not choose to support withdrawals and/or trading of Bitcoin SV in the future.

Bitcoin Cash seeks to build on the goal of the original Bitcoin and become an electronic cash system, similar to other payment methods such as debit and credit cards. Their roadmap includes changes such as adjustable blocksize caps, canonical transaction ordering, and new operating codes, which lay the groundwork for further transaction throughput enhancements.

We have worked closely with the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS) to obtain approval to offer Bitcoin Cash trading and custody services for our customers, and we are excited to add this cryptocurrency to the Gemini platform — the world’s most regulated cryptocurrency exchange and custodian. We are proud to provide our customers with a safe, secure, and compliant method to buy, sell, and store cryptocurrency as we build the **_future of money_**.

Onward and Upward,

Eric Winer, VP of Engineering


Bitcoin Cash Is Now Available on Gemini!

We are excited to announce support for Litecoin trading and custody on Gemini. Beginning Saturday, October 13th at **9:30am EDT** you will be able to deposit Litecoin into your Gemini account. Trading will begin on Tuesday, October 16th at **9:30am EDT**. Litecoin (LTC) is the fourth digital asset available on the Gemini platform, joining Bitcoin, Ether, and Zcash. As a result, we will be offering the following new trading pairs and services:

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*uth8GemzlhZfJxcRkHeRvQ.png)

Litecoin is a fork of the original Bitcoin network and aims to grow the use of cryptocurrency for daily transactions, similar to the payment methods of the traditional banking system (e.g., cash, debit, and credit cards). Litecoin uses a different mining algorithm than Bitcoin in an effort to further decentralize participation, and continues to be on the leading edge of efforts to increase adoption of cryptocurrency for payments.

Gemini is the world’s most regulated cryptocurrency exchange and custodian, held to the highest standards of banking compliance and fiduciary obligations, and overseen by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS). The addition of Litecoin further solidifies Gemini’s standing as the go-to exchange for retail and institutional investors alike. Gemini continues to grow with a “security-first” approach and we have worked closely with the NYSDFS to gain approval for Litecoin trading and custody services. We are excited to provide our customers with a safe, secure, and compliant method to buy, sell, and store these digital assets. Customers leveraging Gemini’s API functionality can see our [updated symbol list here.](https://docs.gemini.com/rest-api/#symbols-and-minimums)

We also had planned to announce support for Bitcoin Cash (BCH) today as well. However, there has been much uncertainty lately within the Bitcoin Cash community about one or more possible hard forks arriving in mid-November. Some of those forks lack the replay protection feature that would be required for Gemini to safely support Bitcoin Cash. Because of this situation, we are delaying our launch of Bitcoin Cash deposits, withdrawals, and trading until late November, after the forks have passed and we can evaluate the health of the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem. Until then, you may see some “coming soon” pages for Bitcoin Cash deposits, withdrawals, and trading on our website and APIs.

We remain certain that for cryptocurrency to realize its tremendous potential it is crucial to provide a safe and regulated environment for both innovation and consumer protection, and we are proud to work closely with both the market and regulators as we move towards the future of money.

Onward and Upward,

Eric Winer, VP of Engineering

Litecoin Is Now Available on Gemini!

We are excited to announce support for [Zcash trading](https://gemini.com/prices/zcash "Zcash Price Page") and custody. Starting on **Saturday, May 19th** at **9:30am EDT** customers will be able to start depositing Zcash into their Gemini accounts. Trading will begin on **Tuesday, May 22nd** at **9:30am EDT**. We will be offering the following new trading pairs and services:

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*8iCy9dC2fSHT--P3nJCMDQ.png)

When we began building Gemini over four years ago, we envisioned a platform that would allow customers to trade many virtual commodities. Zcash is a friendly fork of the Bitcoin source code, making it a member of the “Nakamoto Family Tree” of virtual commodities. The Zcash protocol’s cutting edge use of zero-knowledge succinct non-interactive arguments of knowledge (“zk-SNARKS” or “zero-knowledge proofs”) makes it a truly innovative privacy coin that offers confidentiality for peer-to-peer transactions similar to those afforded to fiat currency transfers (e.g., ACH, FedWire, SWIFT, etc.).

We have been working closely with the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS) to obtain approval to offer Zcash trading and custody services to our customers as a New York trust company. Our approval makes Gemini the **_first licensed Zcash exchange in the world._** It also makes the **_NYSDFS the first regulatory agency in the world to supervise Zcash_**, reaffirming their position as the leading financial regulator in the area of digital assets. Regulatory certainty and oversight are critical for both fostering innovation and protecting consumers — and we’re excited to provide our customers with a safe, secure, and regulated platform to buy, sell, and store Zcash. We are proud to be supporting this new and incredible technology, and contributing to the next generation economy and the future of money.

Zcash supports two types of addresses: unshielded addresses, which start with ‘t’ (i.e., “t-address”), and shielded addresses, which start with ‘z’ (i.e., “z-address”). At launch, Gemini will support deposits from unshielded or shielded addresses, but will only support withdrawals to unshielded addresses. We are working to support withdrawals to shielded addresses in the future.

Onward and Upward,

Eric Winer

Gemini Is Now the World’s First Licensed Zcash Exchange!

#### New Site Design

Since Gemini launched, we’ve deepened our understanding of what you all want to see on our website and how we can best provide you with relevant information. We want your interaction with Gemini to be as efficient and user-friendly as possible — this goes back to our core principle of giving you **_what you need, when you need it_**. There’s a lot of data to show, and we have a wide range of features, so we’ve completely redesigned and restructured [our entire public site](https://gemini.com/) and [this blog](https://gemini.com/blog/) from the ground up. Hopefully you’ll agree that information is now easier to find and consume, and that your experience in navigating the Gemini website is seamless, relevant, and enjoyable!

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/0*ieQSHNoufxET2CXn.png)

#### Maker-or-Cancel and Immediate-or-Cancel Orders

At Gemini, we’re not big fans of the trend towards more and more complicated order types on exchanges. We think it’s important to keep the rules of our exchange simple. Whether you’re buying, selling, or speculating on Gemini, you can be confident that you’re being treated fairly and on a level playing field with everyone else.

With that in mind, when we see requests for new exchange features, we evaluate them critically to ensure they won’t disrupt the fairness, performance, or simplicity of the our exchange. Today, we’re offering two new order options: **_maker-or-cancel_**\* and **_immediate-or-cancel_**. They let you specify that your order should either be only liquidity-making or only liquidity-taking.

These new order options are available now; you can learn more about them from our [API documentation](https://docs.gemini.com/rest-api/#new-order).

#### What’s Coming Next

So far, in just the first quarter of 2016, we’ve released:

*   [Our new Activity Feed](https://gemini.com/blog/introducing-the-new-gemini-activity-feed/)
*   [Multi-user accounts](https://gemini.com/blog/introducing-multi-user-accounts-and-performance-upgrades/)
*   [Instant bank account verification](https://gemini.com/blog/funding-your-gemini-account-just-got-a-lot-faster/)
*   [Volume and ratio-based fee discounts](https://gemini.com/blog/new-fee-and-rebate-schedule/)
*   [Multiple bank account support](https://gemini.com/blog/introducing-multiple-bank-accounts/)
*   [Instant ACH deposits](https://gemini.com/blog/instant-ach-deposits-are-here/)
*   [FIX API](https://gemini.com/blog/we-now-offer-a-fix-api-and-support-websockets/)
*   [WebSockets market data API](https://gemini.com/blog/we-now-offer-a-fix-api-and-support-websockets/)

We’ve been progressing at a pretty breakneck pace so far this year — but you might not hear from us as often over the next couple weeks. We have a few huge, groundbreaking new features in the works, and while they may take a little more time to deliver, we’re really excited about the changes ahead and can’t wait to share them with you.

Onward and Upward,

Eric Winer

_\* Note: exchanges in other asset classes sometimes call this order type “post-only,” although the precise functionality may vary._

New Site Design, New Order Options

#### FIX API

We built our current [JSON-based API](https://docs.gemini.com/) primarily for customers who are already familiar with trading on Bitcoin exchanges. But there are plenty of traders who trade on markets all over the world but aren’t familiar with the world of Bitcoin and simply aren’t able or willing to connect to an exchange over the public internet. So to help a whole new class of individuals and institutions enter the Bitcoin ecosystem and trade Bitcoin even faster, we’re now offering support for the [FIX protocol](https://docs.gemini.com/fix-api/).

If you’d like to connect with FIX, please email us at [hello@gemini.com](mailto:hello@gemini.com). We’ll get you set up with an IPSec VPN into our [Sandbox environment](https://exchange.sandbox.gemini.com/register), so you can test your trading software and complete our FIX certification process. Full documentation is available in draft form at [https://docs.gemini.com/fix-api](https://docs.gemini.com/fix-api/). Once you’re certified, to use FIX for trading you’ll need to [connect directly](https://docs.gemini.com/fix-api/#connecting) to our datacenter in Secaucus, New Jersey via co-location cross-connect, extranet, or private line Ethernet.

We’ve heard some requests to use a FIX API over the public internet. However, our security, infrastructure, and engineering teams all agreed that that was an awkward (and potentially insecure) use of the protocol. So to accommodate users on the public internet, we’re also working on improving our JSON-based API, as you’ll see below. If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to send us an email at [hello@gemini.com](mailto:hello@gemini.com).

#### WEBSOCKETS STREAMING MARKET DATA

If you’re an JSON-based API user, there’s no need to constantly query for the latest order book and trade information anymore. We now offer [WebSockets](https://docs.gemini.com/rest-api/#streaming-market-data)for streaming market data of our public order book and the latest trades on Gemini. This makes it easier to keep an accurate and up-to-date view of our order book. Please see our documentation for more information:

[https://docs.gemini.com/rest-api/#streaming-market-data](https://docs.gemini.com/rest-api/#streaming-market-data)

Or check out a [live demo](https://jsfiddle.net/9sutecyv/). Please test it out and let us know if you have any questions or feedback at [hello@gemini.com](mailto:hello@gemini.com).

We Now Offer a FIX API and Support WebSockets

We have lots of big plans for Gemini in 2016 — and the first few pieces of those plans are already coming together. You may have noticed our [new Activity Feed](https://blog.gemini.com/introducing-the-new-gemini-activity-feed/), which went live for everyone three weeks ago. We’re going to be using that section of the website more and more in the future to get you the information you need when you want it as you trade bitcoin.

#### PERFORMANCE UPGRADE

At the same time, we also greatly improved the performance of our core exchange engine. We didn’t want to make a big deal of it until collecting some data after the release, but now we’ve gone back and taken a look at those before-and-after numbers. Measuring the round-trip time for order placement and order cancellation through our API, we’re seeing:

*   a ~40–60% decrease in median round-trip time
*   a ~45% decrease in the standard deviation

#### MULTI-USER / SUB ACCOUNTS

This past weekend, we released one of your most commonly requested features: multiple-user accounts (i.e., sub accounts of one master account). Now, multiple people within an organization can register for Gemini and share access to the same trading account. Administrators can grant each user a different access level depending on their role in the organization (e.g., manager, trader, auditor). To get started, just head to the [User Management](https://exchange.gemini.com/settings/users) page, or click User Management from the settings menu in the upper right corner of the Gemini [dashboard](https://exchange.gemini.com/):  
From there, you can invite new users to your account and assign each one an access level. The currently available access levels and their capabilities are outlined in the table below:

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/0*ttLtOrLi9299MBFx.png)

If there are any access levels you would like us to add or change, please get in touch at hello@gemini.com.

You’re welcome to use these new features even if, like most Gemini users, you have a Gemini personal account. For instance, you can invite your family to join your account, so you all can buy & sell bitcoin and share a common account balance. If you are currently using your Gemini personal account to conduct business, please get in touch with us at hello@gemini.com so we can work with you to upgrade your account to an institutional one.

And even if you don’t use our new User Management features, there’s a lot more in store over the next few months. Our engineering team is currently hard at work to bring you new connectivity options, faster deposits and withdrawals, and, at long last, new currencies to trade. At the same time, our intrepid legal team is hard at work getting Gemini approved to operate in all 50 states, as well as, around the world.

It’s going to be an exciting year for Gemini, and I hope you’ll join us for the ride.

Onward and Upward,

Eric Winer

Eric Winer