Gemini Reportedly Exits UK, EU With Under-$10M Sale to KAST

Bitcoin Magazine

Singapore-based stablecoin payments firm KAST has acquired the already-shuttered U.K. and European operations of Gemini Space Station for less than $10 million, CoinDesk reported. The news arrives as the Nasdaq-listed exchange prepares to post third-quarter results after Thursday’s closing bell.

Gemini declined to comment. A KAST representative would not discuss the transaction but noted the company is actively pursuing acquisitions as its revenue and footprint expand. No public confirmation has come from either firm, and no regulator has announced a change-of-control approval.

If confirmed, the disposal would conclude a pullback Gemini outlined in February. On Feb. 4, the Nasdaq-listed company, which trades under GEMI, approved a plan to exit and shut down its operations in the U.K., the European Union and other European jurisdictions, plus Australia, as part of a broader drive to reduce costs and reach profitability. It said it would stay in the U.S. and Singapore.

The plan called for cutting up to 200 employees in Europe, the U.S. and Singapore, roughly 25% of Gemini’s global workforce at the time. The company estimated about $11 million in pre-tax restructuring charges, mostly in cash, and anticipated the wind-down would be largely completed in the first half of 2026. Reuters reported the job cuts on the same day.

Co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who launched Gemini in 2014 as a bitcoin exchange, told customers the firm would “double down on America” after foreign markets proved hard to win and stretched the company’s cost base. Gemini later told U.K., European Economic Area and Australian customers that their accounts would close on April 6, with a withdrawals-only period starting in early March.

What would change hands in a sale is the leftover entities, staff and regulatory permissions from those already wound-down units, not Gemini’s core U.S. exchange. Buyers of shuttered crypto businesses often want the licenses more than the remaining operations. Any transfer of a licensed firm in the U.K. or the EU typically still requires a change-of-control review by local regulators before a new owner can run it.

A payments firm with European ambitions

KAST is a Singapore-based financial platform built on stablecoin rails. In March, it said it had raised $80 million in a Series A round co-led by QED Investors and Left Lane Capital. The company, founded in July 2024 by former Circle executive Raagulan Pathy, said it would use the capital for expansion, licensing and compliance.

KAST provides dollar-denominated accounts, cross-border payments and cards that let consumers and businesses hold, move and spend stablecoins. In the March release, it said it had more than one million users and was processing nearly $5 billion in annualized transaction volume. Those figures have not been independently verified, and KAST has not publicly described a European acquisition.

The report lands on a busy day for Gemini. The company said on Oct. 20 that it would release third-quarter results after the market close on Thursday, Nov. 12, with a conference call at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday. Investors will be looking for evidence that the February restructuring is lowering costs and moving Gemini closer to the profitability it set as a goal when it pulled back overseas.

The Winklevoss twins earlier this year put $100 million of bitcoin into the company after the stock came under pressure. Thursday’s results will show how the business looks after that overseas wind-down.

A sale of the U.K. and EU units for less than $10 million would be a modest figure next to the $11 million in restructuring charges Gemini already booked around the exit. The larger question is whether a buyer can put those European permissions to work, and whether Gemini confirms the deal when it reports Thursday evening.