In a recent interview with Erik Schatzker from Bloomberg Markets, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss discuss the Gemini bitcoin exchange, which recently added ethereum, and also talks about compliance and open and closed blockchains.
The twins, so famously known from their lawsuit with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and the movie adaptation The Social Network, officially launched the Gemini bitcoin exchange in October 2015.
In the interview, they liken the exchange to a bank, with similar policies and regulations. The exchange has been granted a charter by the NYDFS which allows them to accept both individual and institutional customers under New York Banking Law.
When asked if the exchange will share customer data on accounts and ownership with law enforcement, they said they will not share anything without first having a subpoena with legal enforcement. Under the charter and banking regulation laws, the exchange has a full BSA, AML, and KYC program, which was vetted by the NYDFS.
Also during the interview, the twins talked about the bitcoin blockchain, describing the benefits of it being open source and how anyone can build on top it. As opposed to private blockchains which they called “bankchains,” where it’s private and you cannot build on top of it if you wanted. For example, you may not want to build on the JP Morgan bankchain, as it’s private, permissioned, and not transparent to the world.
“The open blockchain is very different than bankchains.”
