Gemini Soars 14% in Nasdaq Debut After $425M IPO

New York — Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange launched by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, surged over 14 percent in their Nasdaq debut on Friday. The firm had raised $425 million in its initial public offering, listing shares at $28.

The shares opened at $37.01, approximately 32 percent over the IPO price, and briefly surged to $45.89 before ending at $32. That gave Gemini a market value of around $3.3 billion before trading started.

Founded in 2014, Gemini is perhaps best known as a crypto exchange but also sells a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, crypto-linked credit cards, and institutional custody services. As of July, it had over $21 billion in assets on its platform. While strong in its debut, the company has recently struggled financially, reporting a net loss of $159 million in 2024 and a $283 million loss during the first half of 2025, according to its SEC filings.

The Winklevoss twins, two of the first investors in bitcoin and the first to be a bitcoin billionaires, have been long advocating for bitcoin as "digital gold." On CNBC's Squawk Box prior to the IPO, they forecasted that bitcoin would possibly be worth $1 million in a decade.

Their efforts to bring cryptocurrencies into the mainstream started more than a decade earlier, when they made the initial application for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund in 2013. Although the SEC initially dismissed the proposal, the twins' efforts paved the way for today's bitcoin ETF market and continue to weigh in on regulatory discussions regarding crypto.