Bitcoin Magazine
Crypto Exchange Gemini Sells U.K. and EU Units to KAST for Under $10 Million
Gemini Space Station has sold its already shuttered U.K. and European operations to Singapore stablecoin payments firm KAST for less than $10 million, according to CoinDesk reporting, as the exchange prepares to report third-quarter results after Thursday’s close.
Gemini declined to comment. A spokesperson for KAST would not discuss the transaction, but said the company is actively looking at acquisitions as its revenue and footprint grow. Neither firm has issued a public confirmation of a sale, and no regulator has announced a change-of-control approval.
The disposal, if confirmed, would close a retreat Gemini laid out in February. On Feb. 4, the Nasdaq-listed company, known as Gemini (GEMI), approved a plan to exit and wind down its operations in the United Kingdom, the European Union and other European jurisdictions, and Australia, as part of a broader effort to cut expenses and support a path to profitability. It said it would keep operating in the United States and Singapore.
The plan included a reduction in force of up to 200 employees in Europe, the United States and Singapore, or about 25% of Gemini’s global workforce as of that date. The company estimated about $11 million in pre-tax restructuring charges, mostly in cash, and said it expected the wind-down to be substantially completed in the first half of 2026. Reuters reported the job cuts the same day.
Co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who started Gemini in 2014 as a bitcoin exchange, told customers the firm would “double down on America” after foreign markets proved hard to win and stretched the company’s cost base. Gemini later told U.K., European Economic Area and Australian customers that their accounts would close on April 6, with withdrawals-only starting in early March.
What would change hands in a sale is the leftover entities, staff and regulatory permissions from those already wound-down units, not Gemini’s core U.S. exchange. Buyers of shuttered crypto businesses often want the licenses more than the remaining operations. Any transfer of a licensed firm in the U.K. or the EU typically still requires a change-of-control review by local regulators before a new owner can run it.
A payments firm with European ambitions
KAST is a Singapore-based financial platform built on stablecoin rails. In March, it said it had raised $80 million in a Series A round co-led by QED Investors and Left Lane Capital. The company, founded in July 2024 by former Circle executive Raagulan Pathy, said it would use the capital for expansion, licensing and compliance.
KAST provides dollar-denominated accounts, cross-border payments and cards that let consumers and businesses hold, move and spend stablecoins. In the March release, it said it had more than one million users and was processing nearly $5 billion in annualized transaction volume. Those figures have not been independently verified, and KAST has not publicly described a European acquisition.
The report lands on a busy day for Gemini. The company said on Oct. 20 that it would release third-quarter results after the market close on Thursday, Nov. 12, with a conference call at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday. Investors will be looking for evidence that the February restructuring is lowering costs and moving Gemini closer to the profitability it set as a goal when it pulled back overseas.
The Winklevoss twins earlier this year put $100 million of bitcoin into the company after the stock came under pressure. Thursday’s results will show how the business looks after that overseas wind-down.
A sale of the U.K. and EU units for less than $10 million would be a modest figure next to the $11 million in restructuring charges Gemini already booked around the exit. The larger question is whether a buyer can put those European permissions to work, and whether Gemini confirms the deal when it reports Thursday evening.
This post Crypto Exchange Gemini Sells U.K. and EU Units to KAST for Under $10 Million first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
