Gemini, a New York-based cryptocurrency exchange founded by brothers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, made a significant hire: New York Stock Exchange Chief Information Officer Robert Cornish.

Gemini President Cameron Winklevoss told CNBC in an interview that Cornish will help build out its cryptocurrency platform.

Cornish will be tasked with expanding the range of products that Gemini offers clients with the idea that over time, larger institutional clients such as hedge funds will be investing in cryptocurrencies.

Gemini currently supports a number of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ether, zcash and, soon, litecoin.

Skeptics, though, question whether larger investors will want a piece of the action especially given the underperformance in bitcoin and other digital currencies in 2018.

Plus, a number of negative headlines — crypto hacks, phony initial coin offerings, stolen digital wallets — have hurt sentiment.

Bitcoin is currently down 60 percent from its December 2017 high.

But Winklevoss doesn’t see the underperformance in cryptocurrencies stopping the broader cryptocurrency industry from growing and developing new products, saying every asset experiences a bull-and-bear period.

Winklevoss is sticking by his belief in telling CNBC that bitcoin is gold 2.0 and that he sees it becoming a trillion-dollar asset over time.