Is Gemini in Trouble? Cuts 25% of Staff and Exits UK & EU

Gemini is in rough shape. The Winklevoss-founded crypto exchange is slashing up to 25% of its workforce, pulling out of the UK, EU, and Australia, and just lost three C-suite executives in a single day. Its stock has fallen more than 80% since going public on Nasdaq in September 2025, shrinking its market cap from nearly $4 billion to under $700 million. Whether this is a calculated retreat or the early stages of something worse depends on what happens next.

What Happened at Gemini?

On February 5, 2026, Gemini announced it would cut roughly 200 employees globally as part of a push toward profitability. The layoffs hit staff across the US, Singapore, and Europe, with the company estimating about $11 million in pre-tax restructuring charges.

Gemini pointed to AI-driven productivity gains as one reason it can operate leaner, saying advances in artificial intelligence have boosted output in engineering and other departments. In a blog post titled "Gemini 2.0," co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss argued that AI has turned a 10x engineer into a 100x engineer, making smaller teams not just cheaper but faster. That reasoning will sound familiar to anyone tracking tech layoffs over the past two years.

This is far from Gemini's first round of cuts. The exchange trimmed 10% of staff in June 2022 during the early crypto winter. More reductions followed in 2025. At its peak, Gemini employed around 1,100 people. That number has been roughly halved through successive rounds of layoffs.

Why Is Gemini Leaving the UK, EU, and Australia?

Gemini is winding down exchange operations in all three regions, effective April 6, 2026. Customers in those markets will be limited to withdrawals starting March 5.

The timing stung. Gemini had just opened a London office in 2025 and secured EU licenses as part of an international push. Those markets accounted for about 15% of the company's revenue in the first nine months of 2025, but high regulatory compliance costs and shrinking trading volumes made them a money pit.

The numbers tell the story clearly. In 2025, Gemini's expenses surged 70% while net revenue grew just 17%. That kind of mismatch is not sustainable in the long term, especially with Bitcoin down nearly 50% from its October 2025 peak and liquidity drying up across the board.

Going forward, Gemini will focus on the US and Singapore, where it sees better odds for regulated growth.

Three Executives Gone in One Day

On February 17, 2026, Gemini parted ways with Chief Operating Officer Marshall Beard, Chief Financial Officer Dan Chen, and Chief Legal Officer Tyler Meade. All three departures were effective immediately, just months after the company's IPO.

Reports suggest additional quiet layoffs have gone beyond the initial 25% announcement. The executives may provide transitional services under separation agreements, but losing your COO, CFO, and CLO at the same time is never a good look. It has fueled speculation about internal tensions, though Gemini frames the changes as part of its broader restructuring. Cameron Winklevoss is taking over the COO's revenue-generating duties, with no plans to backfill the role.

How Bad Is the Stock Situation?

Pretty bad. Since its Nasdaq debut under the ticker GEMI, shares have fallen more than 80%. Gemini went public riding a crypto bull run, but that momentum evaporated fast.

The company's global spot trading market share tells an even bleaker story. It dropped from 0.6% in mid-2025 to just 0.1% by early 2026. In an industry where volume is everything, that kind of decline hits revenue hard and fast.

Exchange consolidation tends to accelerate during downturns. When revenues drop faster than fixed costs, smaller players get squeezed. Gemini is not the smallest exchange out there, but it is competing against giants with far deeper pockets and broader user bases.

What Is Gemini Betting On?

Despite the cuts and retreats, Gemini is not just hunkering down. The company is pivoting toward two areas it sees as growth opportunities: custody services and prediction markets.

Gemini launched its prediction markets platform, Gemini Predictions, in mid-December 2025 after securing a CFTC license. Early traction looks decent: more than 10,000 users have traded over $24 million on the platform since launch, according to the Winklevoss brothers. The prediction markets space has been heating up since Polymarket's breakout in 2024, and Gemini is looking to carve out a regulated niche. The founders have gone as far as saying prediction markets could eventually rival traditional capital markets in size.

Custody is the other bet. Institutional crypto custody has steady demand regardless of market cycles, making it a more stable revenue stream than exchange trading fees.

Is This a Strategic Reset or Something Worse?

Crypto cycles are brutal, and companies that look like they are on the ropes sometimes come back stronger once the market turns. Gemini's decision to focus on the US could pay off if the current administration delivers on pro-crypto regulatory clarity. A friendlier regulatory environment in the US would benefit a compliance-first exchange like Gemini more than most.

But the risks are real. A stock decline of more than 80%, a gutted leadership team, and a market share that has nearly vanished are not things you wave away with optimism. If the broader crypto market does not recover soon, Gemini could face what some analysts are calling a "hard landing."

For now, Gemini's survival depends on whether its bets on custody and prediction markets can generate enough revenue to offset the collapse in trading volume. The crypto market has punished plenty of exchanges before, and not all of them came back. Whether Gemini's reset comes early enough to matter is the question the market will answer next.

Sources:

• Gemini Blog — Official announcement from Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss detailing workforce reduction, market exits, and strategic pivot
• Wu Blockchain on X — Original post reporting Gemini restructuring details
• Yahoo Finance — Reporting on Gemini's 25% workforce reduction announcement
• Bloomberg — Coverage of Gemini's stock decline and market exit decisions
• CoinDesk — Reporting on Gemini's UK, EU, and Australia withdrawal and prediction markets launch
• CFO Dive — Details on restructuring charges and executive separation agreements
• Proactive Investors — Coverage of Gemini's layoff history and AI-driven efficiency gains
• Reuters — Reporting on Gemini's refocused US and Singapore strategy
• PYMNTS — Reporting on the departure of three Gemini executives
• Incrypted — Background on Gemini's IPO and stock performance
• Phemex — Market share data and expense vs. revenue analysis
• MEXC — Context on crypto market downturn and industry consolidation