Gemini’s Winklevoss brothers have plans for Bitcoin ETF approval

Gemini’s Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the CEO, and president, respectively, spoke about their plans to end the concerns of Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] that believes that Bitcoin markets are prone to manipulations. The famous Winklevoss twins, who had sued Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly stealing their idea, appeared in Laura Shin’s podcast.

The twins have outlined a plan to win over regulatory approval for Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund [ETF]. The duo said that the quickest way to do so is by “answering their call and (requesting) … more market surveillance on the crypto marketplace,”. The duo added:

“…we’ve started to do that with the Virtual Commodity Association SRO and bringing NASDAQ’s smartest technology to our marketplace, and those are the step in the right direction to getting regulators comfortable with eventually approving an ETF-like product.”

The brothers’ company, Gemini has recently launched an advertising campaign in New York City. The duo have invested in the campaign and it is seen all around with plastered banners on subways, in taxis across the city and even have billboards. This is their first campaign and since the company is based in New York, they started off by running the campaign in the city itself, the twins informed. They explained further:

“…it also happens to be one of the financial capitals of the world, and also has one of the preeminent Bitcoin, or rather, virtual currency regulators, New York DFS. So, it felt like a great starting point to start a campaign.”

When asked about who the target audience for the campaign was, the brothers cleared that it is not aimed at the regulators, but for customers. The duo also said that the campaign has already struck a chord with the crypto followers and that they need no convincing on the dream of crypto or its promise, as they are already well-read.

The Winklevoss’s twins also acknowledged the real problem such followers face in the world of crypto. They said:

“What they’re unsure about is how to engage in crypto in a safe and compliant manner, and so we’re really trying to just start the conversation and let people know that there are regulated exchanges and custodians like Gemini where you can easily buy, sell, and store your crypto and it’s not some Wild West.”

The duo says that the focus here needs to be on the narrative. They cited an example of Silk Road days where one could read a single article without mention.

“I’m sure you remember the Silk Road days where you couldn’t really read a single article without some mention, usually it was a headline or you know in the first part of the article, about Silk Road and how Bitcoin is anonymous and only used for illicit activity, and we know how wrong that narrative is and really has proven to be, but that didn’t take weeks or months to shake. It took years and even to this day, there are a lot of people who still believe Bitcoin is truly anonymous.”

However, they do not believe this is the case. According to the brothers, it is important to start a dialogue and educate people that it is a valid technology and there are secure ways to engage with it and the duo reasoned this by saying:

“because what we really don’t want is a lot of sophisticated people who believe in the technology who miss out on that next wave of getting involved.