Winklevoss-Led Gemini Partners With Nasdaq on Custody, Staking, and Calypso Distribution

Updated on: September 12, 2025

Gemini, the crypto exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins, is set to go public this week. Nasdaq and Gemini have entered into a non-exclusive partnership focused on digital asset custody, staking, and collateral management.

Key Takeaways

Gemini aims to raise $317 million through the IPO and will begin trading under the ticker GEMI by the end of the week, market conditions permitting.
Under the partnership, Nasdaq clients will have access to Gemini’s custody and staking services, while Gemini will act as a distribution partner for Nasdaq’s Calypso platform, which provides collateral management capabilities across traditional and digital assets.
The investment and partnership structure is consistent with Nasdaq Ventures’ typical approach, seen in prior partnerships such as Juniper Square and Nasdaq Private Markets.
Gemini is also expanding into Europe with staking services and leveraged perpetual contracts, operating under MiCA and MiFID II regulations.

What Happened?

Gemini Exchange is preparing for its public debut with a $317 million IPO. While the IPO will see Gemini trading under the symbol GEMI, a separate collaboration with Nasdaq underscores the exchange’s push into digital asset infrastructure.

According to Nasdaq, the partnership is part of its broader digital assets strategy and involves no equity investment linked to the IPO. Instead, Nasdaq will work with Gemini on:

Digital asset custody and staking services, on a referral, non-exclusive basis.
Distribution of Nasdaq’s Calypso collateral management solution, helping firms manage collateral across both traditional and digital assets.

Gemini and Nasdaq Team Up on Infrastructure

Nasdaq’s collaboration with Gemini mirrors prior Nasdaq Ventures structures. The partnership is designed to enhance institutional adoption of digital assets while complementing Nasdaq’s initiatives, which include tokenized securities, extended trading hours, and technology solutions for institutional clients.

Nasdaq Spokesperson shed light on this development:

“

We continue to expand our capabilities to serve our institutional clients and the broader investor universe as the regulatory landscape around crypto assets evolves. To prepare for future developments while maintaining an open-ecosystem approach to market infrastructure, we will partner with Gemini on a non-exclusive basis as part of a broader strategy to offer multi-custodial and staking services for crypto assets. Additionally, we will work with Gemini as a distribution partner for Nasdaq Calypso, to serve firms seeking to benefit from its collateral management capabilities across traditional and digital assets. The investment and partnership structure we have employed with Gemini is consistent with those that we typically structure through Nasdaq Ventures.

A Sign of Renewed IPO Momentum

Gemini’s IPO comes as part of a wider rebound in U.S. equity capital markets, where firms like Figma and Firefly Aerospace have recently delivered strong first-day performances. The crypto sector, too, has been active, with companies like Circle and Bullish seeing institutional demand for their IPOs.

Should it proceed as planned, Gemini will become the third crypto exchange to go public, joining Coinbase, now part of the S&P 500, and Bullish.

Expanding Footprint in Europe

Beyond the U.S. market, Gemini is also making significant strides in European expansion. The company recently introduced a range of offerings to serve over 400 million investors across the EU and EEA.

New services include:

Staking for Ether and Solana, offering yields up to 6 percent APR, daily reward accrual, and no minimum deposit.
Gemini Perpetuals, a regulated derivatives product allowing up to 100x leverage and no expiration dates, operating under MiFID II guidelines.

Both offerings comply with European regulations, such as MiCA for staking via Gemini’s Malta-based entity.

Gemini’s European CEO, Mark Jennings, emphasized, “With MiCA, the region can set the global benchmark for clear, consistent crypto rules.” He added that Europe remains a strategic priority for the company’s global roadmap.

Tokenization Push from Nasdaq

The Gemini partnership complements Nasdaq’s broader ambitions around digital assets, including tokenized securities. Nasdaq has filed with the SEC to update its rules to allow tokenized stock trading on its platforms. The exchange has been critical of unregulated overseas venues offering tokenized U.S. equities and maintains that such innovations should occur on regulated exchanges.

Gemini, meanwhile, has already launched tokenized shares in Europe, including stocks like MicroStrategy (MSTR).

CoinLaw’s Takeaway

This collaboration highlights how traditional finance players like Nasdaq are approaching crypto with measured, non-exclusive partnerships. For Gemini, the IPO provides a capital raise, while the Nasdaq partnership deepens its institutional credibility in custody, staking, and collateral management.

The European expansion is equally strategic. With MiCA and MiFID II in place, Gemini has regulatory cover to roll out high-yield staking and derivatives products across a major market. The future of crypto exchanges may well be multi-jurisdictional, compliant, and tightly integrated with established financial infrastructure.