Gemini Slashes Staff and Exits Europe to Chase Prediction Market Profits

Crypto company Gemini is cutting its workforce by 25% and exiting the United Kingdom, European Union and Australia as it sharpens its focus on prediction markets and the United States.

Gemini CEO Tyler Winklevoss and President Cameron Winklevoss announced the changes in a Thursday (Feb. 5) blog post.

The company’s withdrawal from overseas markets and its headcount reduction will help reduce expenses and “meaningfully accelerate our path to profitability even in the backdrop of the current crypto market,” they said in the post. “Simplify, consolidate, then accelerate.”

The executives said in the post that Gemini’s mission is evolving, and its business is being reshaped because of how prediction markets have begun to transform marketplaces.

They added that the company’s own prediction market, Gemini Predictions, has gained more than 10,000 users who have traded over $24 million since its launch in December.

This has made Gemini an early mover in the prediction market space and has led it to make Gemini Predictions a more central piece of the experience it offers, they said.

“If Gemini’s first decade was building a ‘bridge to the future of money,’ today we are building a ‘bridge to the future of money and markets’ via a super app,” the executives said in the post.

In order to succeed in this shift, they said, “we will narrow our focus.”

The executives also pointed to the impact of artificial intelligence when announcing the cuts to Gemini’s workforce. They said the technology has magnified the impact of both engineers and non-engineers 10 times and made it more possible than ever to do more with less.

With the 25% reduction in the workforce, they said, “We believe this is the right size to carry out our mission.”

As Gemini withdraws from the U.K., European Economic Area and Australia, it will place all customer accounts in these regions in withdrawal-only mode on March 5 and will close all customer accounts on April 6, according to a company support page.

The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority said in a Friday press release that it recommends that customers read Gemini’s support page and if they have a complaint about Gemini Payments UK, to consider making a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Gemini closed its initial public offering on Sept. 15. The company said at the time in a press release that it offered a wide range of crypto products and services in more than 60 countries.