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Best Crypto Exchanges · Rank 05 of 8
Users who prioritise a regulated custodian over trading features
Last verified August 18, 20264 scored axes
Documented, with gaps
Gemini scores 8.3 out of 10 and ranks #5 of 8 in the best crypto exchanges table, strongest on regulatory footing (9.1) and weakest on market coverage (7.2).
Gemini built its identity around being the compliance-first venue, and the custody stack — a New York trust company — is genuinely stronger than the trading product it wraps. Fees on the retail interface are high and liquidity is thinner than the top tier.
4 axes, weighted as published in the table’s methodology. Each score below is read from the fact printed under it.
8.9/ 35% of the score
Operates as a New York limited-purpose trust company under NYDFS supervision, which requires customer assets to be held segregated, and has filed audited public accounts since its Nasdaq listing in September 2025; publishes SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 examination results. No exchange-custody loss on record.
9.1/ 25% of the score
Holds a NYDFS trust charter granted in 2015 and listed on Nasdaq in September 2025. The CFTC sued in 2022 over statements about a bitcoin futures product and Gemini settled for $5m in January 2024; NYDFS and the New York Attorney General settled over the Gemini Earn lending programme during 2024, Earn customers were repaid in full in kind by mid-2024, and the SEC's related claims were dismissed after that restitution. The exchange's own custody was not the subject of any of those actions.
7.2/ 20% of the score
Two published schedules: the retail interface applies a convenience fee plus spread, while ActiveTrader uses a maker/taker tier schedule.
7.2/ 20% of the score
Listed asset count is a fraction of the largest venues; USD rails plus limited international currencies; derivatives available only in selected jurisdictions.
Gemini Trust Company holds a New York limited-purpose trust charter granted in 2015, which obliges it to hold customer assets segregated under NYDFS supervision — a stronger arrangement than a money-transmitter licence, and the reason its custody scores above its trading. It publishes SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 examination results, and since its Nasdaq listing in September 2025 it also files audited public accounts.
The lending programme that lent customer assets to Genesis collapsed with that lender in 2022. It is worth separating what failed: Earn was a credit product, not the exchange's custody, and the exchange's own safekeeping was never the subject of the actions that followed. New York's DFS and the Attorney General settled during 2024 on terms that funded restitution, Earn customers were repaid in full in kind by mid-2024, and the SEC's related claims were dismissed after that restitution. The CFTC's separate 2022 case, about statements concerning a bitcoin futures product, settled for $5m in January 2024.
The retail interface charges a convenience fee plus a spread; ActiveTrader runs a normal maker/taker schedule. Book depth outside the top pairs trails the majors, and the listed asset count is a fraction of what Binance or OKX offer. You are buying a custodian that happens to run an exchange, not the other way round.
Yes. Earn customers were repaid in full, in kind, by mid-2024 through the Genesis bankruptcy process and settlements with New York regulators; the SEC's related claims were dismissed after that restitution.
Gemini Trust Company holds a New York limited-purpose trust charter granted in 2015 and is supervised by NYDFS, which requires customer assets to be held segregated. It publishes SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type 2 examination results and has filed audited public accounts since listing on Nasdaq in September 2025.
On the retail interface, yes — a convenience fee plus spread puts it among the pricier ways to buy. ActiveTrader uses a conventional maker/taker schedule at rates comparable to other regulated venues.
8 services in best crypto exchanges