Gemini Fails to Attract Retail Bitcoin Traders Despite Heavy Media Coverage

October 19, 2015 By: Asif Imtiaz

Gemini is the brainchild of two Bitcoin enthusiasts, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. They once became famous, or infamous, depending on which characters one likes in the movie – The Social Network, for suing Facebook.

However, this time around, they made the headlines in popular media outlets like The New York Times, The Guardian, Wired, and TechCrunch for founding the Bitcoin exchange Gemini.

When Gemini opened its doors on October 8, it marketed itself as “born and raised in New York City,” and offered Bitcoin users the security of a traditional bank. For example, Gemini offer FDIC insurance and guarantees that the user deposits never leaves US borders.

Although Gemini does offer a level of security and transparency, on the contrary to what the Winklevoss brokers were thinking, Gemini has so far failed to generate much enthusiasm from the actual Bitcoin community. Despite having all the media coverage, it simply failed to attract the Bitcoin traders and create a momentum so far.

Gemini representatives have repeated told the media, however, that they are not trying to attract small scale retail users, but focusing their marketing strategy to encourage banks and other large scale financial institutions to use their service. This is part of the reason they have a pricing model that charges both the buyer and the seller of Bitcoin during a transaction.

Commenting on the Gemini strategy, the CEO of BitMEX, Arthur Hayes said that “Gemini’s ability to convert retail traders to their platform will determine their short-term success. Gemini definitely has the star power of the Winklevoss twins, but I don’t know how far that will take them in the grudge match that is to come.”

But, according to industry analysts this strategy may create a liquidity issue at Gemini as the transaction volume is essential for any exchange and alienating retail traders and their small transaction may prove to be too costly for their current pricing model.