Winklevoss Twins’ Crypto Exchange Gemini Successfully Completes Third-Party Audit

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (or the Winklevoss twins), who founded the U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange and custodian Gemini, have revealed that it has become the first-ever cryptocurrency exchange and custodian to successfully complete a System and Organization Controls (SOC 2) for Service Organizations Type 1 examination; or in other words, an audit by a third-party.

On Jan 29, 2019, Yusuf Hussain, the head of the risk at Gemini, announced that Gemini has successfully completed its Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type 1 examination conducted by Big Four auditor, Deloitte & Touche LLP. As stated in his Medium blog post, “This makes Gemini the world’s first cryptocurrency exchange and custodian to demonstrate this level of security compliance in protecting customer data and funds.”

On completion of the SOC 2 type 1 review, Cameron Winklevoss tweeted:

“Gemini’s product is TRUST. We have just added another layer of trust by becoming the world’s FIRST crypto EXCHANGE and CUSTODIAN to complete a SOC 2 Review by Deloitte.”

In the traditional financial and technology industries, SOC 2 type 1 examination has become an industry standard (developed by the AICPA and Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants) for demonstrating five trust services: security, availability, system processing integrity, online privacy, and confidentiality. Setting new industry standards for crypto exchanges Gemini said that “Our SOC 2 review — coupled with our digital asset insurance — is another step we’ve taken towards raising the bar for consumer protection, safeguards, and industry best practices.”

An in-depth review conducted by accounting firm Deloitte and Touche LLP has testified Gemini’s exchange application, infrastructure, underlying customer database, and the most important exchange’s institutional-grade cryptocurrency storage facility which is a central database of the private keys of Gemini’s online and offline wallets.

With the completion of SOC 2 type 1 examination Gemini has provided an additional assurance for retail investors & institutional consumers and regulators that any funds, in form of Crypto or USD, stored in stored on the exchange are safe and secure - something that is desperately needed in an industry throbbing with incomprehensible scams & record-breaking levels of Ponzi schemes, hacks and theft.

“We know what’s at stake when you trade and store crypto,” said Hussain Yusuf describing Gemini exchange and custody platform’s “security-first” mentality.

Gemini is planning to conduct a SOC 2 review annually and in addition to the SOC 2 Type 1 review, Gemini is also looking forward to obtaining SOC 2 Type 2 review in 2019.