Gemini.com Review 2021 – Scam or Not?
How many Bitcoin exchange websites you know that is based in the United States? There are only a handful of websites that operate as BTC exchanges that are based in the states due to regulatory problems and legal issues that most companies decide not to undergo with. Let us lessen the circumference a little more! How many BTC exchanges are there in the United States that are being regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services or NYSDFS?
Review Contents
- About the Company
- Verifying with Gemini.com
- Trading with Gemini.com
- Fees
- Deposits & Withdrawals
- Customer Support
- Supported Payment Methods
- Supported Countries
- Pros, Cons and Conclusion
Today we will be looking into Gemini.com. A US-based cryptocurrency exchange based in New York City! We will be exploring their website, know more about their features, create an account, and even get a preview of their trading platform if we can. Without further delay, let’s talk about that!
Background
Registered as Gemini Trust Company, LLC and is regulated by NYSDFS (not under BitLicense) the website has been providing exchange services since 2015. According to a CNBC report, Gemini became the world’s first license Ether exchange in 2016. What’s even interesting is that the company is owned by the Winklevoss twins. If you do not know who they are, they’re Beijing Olympiads, Ivy League graduates and sued Mark Zuckerberg for $65 million US Dollars. In 2013, they announced that they owned more than $11 million US Dollars worth of Bitcoin! And with the current price skyrocketing, you can just imagine how much those coins are today. Clearly, the company is being managed by people that believe in cryptocurrency and how it can multiply its value in years.
Verifying with Gemini.com
Now that we’ve touched a little bit of the company, let’s try to create an account with them. Head on to the website of Gemini.com and click on the “Register” button found on the upper right-hand side of the homepage. To create an account, you need to provide your name, active email address and the password for your soon to be account; easy right? Well, that’s just the first part.
After receiving the confirmation code, you will need to enter this on their website and be redirected to the verification process. There are four stages that you need to go through in order to have the account verified. First is the Two-Factor Authentication wherein users need to provide an active phone number. Second would be the Bank Account, bank accounts need to be within the countries they operate in. Third would be the ID verification wherein aspiring users need to submit photos of their proof of identity. Last but not the least is the supporting documents for your identity.
If your country is not part of their operation yet, you can try creating an account with their sandbox trading platform. All you need to have is an active phone number and you’re good to go! We did go for this option since our country of origin is not part of their current operation.
Features
Worth mentioning would be their “Sandbox” website which acts as a practice account for people that are interested in knowing more about the website. You can create a sandbox account here with just an active phone number for 2FA. Yes, even their sandbox version has a 2FA feature activated.
Trading with Gemini.com
Now that we’ve created an account with their sandbox trading platform, let’s try and play with it a little. Please be advised that their live account is exactly the same as this sandbox version, the only difference is that you have play money in their test version.
On the upper left-hand side of the trading platform, we’ve got the BUY and SELL tabs. The screenshot preview shows the “BUY” tab wherein the trader is positioned to place some buy orders. The sample shows the currency pair of BTC/USD. Select the order type, the price per BTC, the quantity of BTC the order needs, and the total USD will be calculated below.
The right-hand side panel shows the current value of the account that you have with Gemini.com. Under the account value, we’ve got the balance for USD, BTC, and ETH. Overall, their sandbox platform was great since we were able to click some numbers in and experience what they have for their verified customers.
Fees
Fees! Even if we haven’t had the chance to play around with the real trading platform, we’ve looked around the website and read more about their services instead. We found out that their taker fee starts at 0.25% for taker/maker. This would really depend on how much trading is going to happen. You can read more about the whole fee schedule here.
Deposits and Withdrawals
Now what’s really awesome is that they do not charge anything for all deposits and withdrawals that are happening on the website. This means that their deposits and withdrawals are FREE of charge. Though they made it clear that they do not shoulder bank charges but they do not charge any transactions going in and out of the website. This is great, given the fact that they charge really high maker/taker fees! Read more about it here.
Customer Service
Because of our experience in exchange website reviews, we found out that most problems come from their customer service. There are a number of websites that get bad reviews because their customer service team did not provide appropriate resolutions for their issues. Most of these complaints we’ve seen come from websites that only have email support to back their websites up.
The problem with email support is that representatives would take days to dig through their queue and resolve issues. By the time they get to your issue, it’s now resolved or you do not care to get back to them anymore, which leads to losing customers.
Here at Gemini.com, they have a Zendesk email system that everyone can access. Do they respond fast? We have no idea. If you guys have sent them an email through this system, please do let us know in the comment section below.
Supported Payment Methods
- Wire Transfer
Supported Countries
- Puerto Rico
- Australia
- Canada
- Hong Kong
- Singapore
- South Korea
- USA
- United Kingdom
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Sandbox account
- Intuitive website
- No deposit/withdrawal fees
Cons
- Crazy account creation (limited countries accepted)
- High trading fees
- Needs more coverage (countries accepted)
Gemini Review Conclusion
Though we might not have tried their actual trading platform, the review was great. We get to try their sandbox website and got a preview of how things are being played out. Their website is intuitive and easy to use. Their fees might not be great, but this can improve over time. All-in-all, a great website backed up by twins that think BTC is the next big thing after Facebook!
Go to gemini.com
Foolishly I was persuaded to invest money into Gemini only to learn that it was a CON and that all their fine words were nothing but false . As a result lost money.
Scam! Restricted my 10k immediately, unable to access or use MY money. Lost money being unable to buy on dip. Absurd ID requirements 3 times. Repeat copies of ID, HANDWRITTEN note with secret code on it, bank statements showing the deposit to THeM?? And selfie. Days to answer email. No phone available to speak to a real person. This is a con job!
My experience, I refuse to transfer money until I have good communication with Gemini. I’ve sent 20 email still no response, it’s been a week. Can you transfer wallet to wallet?
WARNING BEWARE WARNING!!!
WARNING! WARNING!! WARNING!!!
BEWARE…
Everything about Gemini is fake!
Using the word TRUST on their site, the FDIC insured and the phone numbers in New York and London etc
All cheap window dressing scam.
Give them your info and bank account at your own risk!
Funded Gemini 5/5 by ACH for $1,000 they took $2,000 I purchased $1,000 of Dodge and later decided to use $1,000 they over drafted from my bank account and they took another $1,000 from my bank account. I emailed them 10 times since they first double drafted. They froze account
They frozen my account Fter I had been verified and are giving no explanation or ability to withdraw my assets. Goto reddit. This is a common problem with gemini. No live customer support. Only emails that take days to get a response from
crooked and terrible experience. Just stay away. If you made the mistake to deposit funds (which you now cannot withdraw after continuous emails about account verification, file your claim with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau against Gemini Trust LLC. They quickly take your money but will not release. I waited from Jan to today and after my complaint to have money released. They then automatically closed my account (which is fine with me). You have been advised to stay away!
Oh my God where do I start…I have frozen my account I am in the UK the deposits I made have almost took a week to be acknowledged on my Gemini account so I was compelled to report I thought a scam was under way but they have materialised as I have received e mails today confirming the fact.
I have sent numerous e mails to request my account be unfrozen, I had to send a selfie with my passport and a note containing the date 16/03/2021with a specified word supplied by Gemini.
it has been 3 days now and I am getting very worried as they are keeping me locked out of my account cant access my money and investments I used them as I believed they are a safe organisation now unsure customer service is none evident in fact it is just very poor, just in from work but yet not a single reply.
Coinbase are brilliant on responding Gemini appear to be utter risky US scammers I have over £13,000,GBP at stake cheats leaching off a working man just trying to earn a living disgraceful organisation the US needs to get a grip and introduce legislation Regards Chris
Absolute disaster of a company! Those Winklevoss brothers should be sent to the gallows for what there doin to people across the globe there destroying people’s lively hoods by allowing people to invest in crypto through there platform and then stopping those people from withdrawing there funds, I transferred cash from my European bank account and purchased ethereum I later sold this and have tried to have these funds transferred back to my bank and I am unable to do so there is no customer service to help and one is left looking at there funds on a screen and can’t do anything with it, an absolute scam if there was ever one I can’t understand why the feds have not dragged these two conmen from there offices and clear out there Swiss bank accounts that’s lined with stolen cash!!! Steer cLear of this site for your own good you will loose everything!!! WARNING!!!!!!!!
Sandbox fanbox! Their customer support stinks. You can’t talk to a real person and when they do respond to your email it is a computer generated reply. I wired them a substantial amount of money 3 weeks ago and they froze my account and won’t tell me why and won’t return my money. I have filed a complaint with the NY bbb bureau to help me get my money returned. I noticed a lot of other bbb complaints just like mine, so I do not recommend this exchange.
Something is fishy at Gemini. I am based at Singapore and when I did a small transfer of 10 S$ to my Gemini Trading account via XFers, it went through immediately. within 10 minutes I can see 10S$ in my account. BUT when I did a transfer of a larger amount , it did not go through, its has been days now, no one replies email, nor the tweets, nor the reddits. I am very worried if I have lost all my funds.
Terrible infrastructure, awful customer service. Deposits take 8 days to clear at best. I can’t even withdrawal crypto I purchased 2 MONTHS AGO!! I think Gemini might be exit scamming. At very least they’re using shady business practices at their users expense. AVOID AT ALL COST!!!!
I opened and funded my account as it appeared to be a good idea. How wrong I was to put trust into an unknown entity.
Within a week of funding my account, I received an email that I had to close my account. I asked what the problem was. They said that they were’nt allowed to discuss their review process. I inquired if there was something I could do. Nothing mattered and no reason given.
I cannot trust any company that operates in such secrecy. I’m not sure why anyone else would. My other bitcoin accounts serve me well. I suggest Coinbase or Binance.
I had 5 bitcoins and when I deposit my money they took it from my Gemini account. They kept taking $500 until I put money into bitcoin so they can’t take any of my money. They kept taking my money from my Gemini account until I have -999.99 and I have 5.3587 bitcoins. Idk why they took $4,500 from my Gemini account when I was trying to get my money from my bank to my account. So I lost 4K from them and they no longer gives me $500 for deposits.
I deposited using the ACH and a message said that it would take 5 days. I am in the USA and it has been 5 days and I can only trade with the money that I deposited, and no withdrawals. I would appreciate knowing if there is a problem with the verification, and being able to talk to a real person instead of email.
My account was created a few weeks ago. I was able to add funds to my account on Gemini however, my account has not been verified after 3 weeks. So I reached out to support and asked them what was up they said I needed to take a picture of social security card and email it to them. They must think I’m a effin dummy to send my info like that.I’ll stick with Coinbase from now on. In fact Gemini needs to be shutdown completely!
Wired funds from my schwab investment account titled in my name as I’ve done many times before with coinbase. They rejected the wire because I had not pre-registered the account with them (not needed with coinbase, and impossible to do with them) and stated they were returning funds to my account. 2 business days later, I’m still out a substantial sum of money.
Giving this a week, then filing an online complaint with their regulator.
As mentioned above, Gemini’s “customer service”, only via email, is horrible! I have had a problem with my account for 4-5 weeks now and I probably have 30+ emails going BACK and FORTH with them, even BEGGING for someone to simply “call me”… NOTHING… Still trying to fix my problem with my Gemini account as of today, 08/08/19. Would I recommend them? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! See below, I’m not alone. Ben
The most pathetic display of a company that I have ever witnessed. My account was frozen within 24 hours of opening after they took my money. It will not let me transfer the funds to Coinbase wallet which is really frustrating and to get anyone to help you out is impossible. Don’t recommend this site to anyone. Still have not received my money or crypto.
Does Gemini have a 800 number so we can Contact them if we have a problem
Gemini is Garbage!!!! I used Gemini for a few years and they consistently ask me to prove where I got my bitcoins from. I have 150 Bitcoin miners that I bought in 2011-2012 and I only cash out my bitcoins.
I never send my bitcoins to other people or use them to buy anything. Gemini closed my account today with no reason given. They did this despite I don’t buy bitcoin or sell them. I don’t do anything but mine and cash out my bitcoins. LOL, I am 100% the perfect customer with no illegal bitcoin activity. lol, and they close my account lol HAHA how sad is this company becoming?
I reported an unauthorized withdrawal from my checking account. After a few brief responses, including when I first reported it to them..”thanks for your note”!?? I have not heard a word!!! I e mailed them multipal times with no response!!
Not a company that I would want to business with!!