US-based crypto exchange Gemini launched its services in France about a year after obtaining a digital asset service provider (DASP) registration.

Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange founded by twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, has officially expanded its operations to France.

The expansion was enabled by the company’s registration as a Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) by l’Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), the French financial markets regulator, this January. It took the firm almost a year to localise and optimise its trading services for French customers.

Gemini users in France can now deposit, trade and store at least 70 various digital assets on web or mobile devices. Sophisticated and experienced traders can also access Gemini’s investment platform, with more than 80 trading pairs and various application programming interface (API) integrations available. Institutional investors, in their turn, can trade on Gemini’s over-the-counter (OTC) desk and leverage the eOTC trading system, designed to execute large orders with deep liquidity.

Fiat deposits on the platform can be made in euros and British pounds through local payment options such as debit cards, bank transfers and Apple Pay. Eventually, Gemini plans to introduce more services and alternative payment rails for its French customers to boost accessibility and choice.

With the latest expansion, Gemini crypto services are now available in over a dozen European countries and more than 70 countries worldwide.

The decision to expand to France was based on thorough market research. In particular, Gemini notes the country’s growing cryptocurrency adoption, increasing public trust in the crypto industry, and favourable regulatory environment as critical factors.

The crypto exchange representatives believe that public trust is linked to the recent introduction of France’s DASP regime, coupled with the European Union’s crypto regulatory framework, the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). It is the exchange’s stance that “regulation is necessary to further cultivate innovation in the crypto industry in a way that best protects consumers, while attracting greater retail and institutional investment as well as broader adoption.”