By Paul R. La Monica
"What's your sign?" That might be one of the cheesiest pickup lines ever. But if anyone asks traders on Wall Street that question on Friday, their answer should be Gemini, the Zodiac represented by the twins Castor and Pollux of Greek mythology.
Gemini Space Station, the crypto brokerage firm that actually is run by twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, is expected to announce pricing for its initial public offering after the market closes tonight and begin trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol GEMI on Friday.
Demand should be solid, partly because of the fame of the Winklevoss brothers, billionaires who were involved in a legal battle with Mark Zuckerberg during the early days of Facebook.
Gemini upped the price range for the IPO earlier this week, saying it now plans to sell 16.7 million shares at $24 to $26, nearly 40% above the previous range of $17 to $19. At the high end of the new price range, Gemini would have a market valuation of more than $3 billion.
Gemini is looking to capitalize on the resurgence in the IPO market, particularly for crypto-related companies. Circle Internet Group, a stablecoin issuer, went public in June and soared on its first day. More recently, crypto exchange Bullish debuted with a solid pop, and blockchain lender Figure Technology Solutions began trading Thursday and rose around 30% after its IPO priced above the expected range.
Investors are optimistic about crypto thanks to the rising prices of Bitcoin and other digital currencies, a move that many attribute to the more favorable view of the industry from regulators in Washington, particularly the Securities and Exchange Commission under Chair Paul Atkins, who was appointed by crypto fan and investor President Donald Trump.
"The recent wave of crypto-sector IPOs reflects a notable shift in regulatory posture in the U.S.," said Liat Shetret, vice president of global policy and regulation at Elliptic, a blockchain analytics firm, in an email to Barron's.
"After years of hesitation, we're seeing an SEC that is opening the door to established digital asset firms entering public markets. That's a signal of growing regulatory confidence in the sector," she added.
That said, Gemini will have to overcome a couple of obstacles. Competition is fierce, with the likes of Coinbase, Robinhood, Galaxy Digital, Binance, Kraken, Interactive Brokers and eToro (just to name a few) all fighting for crypto brokerage market share.
The fundamentals for Gemini are mixed, too. Revenue soared 45% last year to $142.2 million, but the company also posted a net loss of $158.5 million. And in the first six months of this year, revenue actually fell nearly 8% from a year ago while net losses ballooned to $282.5 million.
There is some good news, though. Gemini ended the first half of this year with 523,000 monthly transacting users, up almost 6% from a year ago. Trading volume skyrocketed nearly 50% to $24.8 billion and assets on the platform rose more than 30% to $18.2 billion. So Gemini is undoubtedly a leading player in crypto investing.
That's probably one of the reasons Nasdaq is also investing in Gemini. The exchange operator is taking a $50 million stake in the company. A Nasdaq spokesperson told Barron's earlier this week that the investment was part of a broader strategy to offer crypto-related services to institutional clients.
Still, don't be surprised to see Gemini stock pop and then fall back a bit, as many other recent IPOs have done this summer. Wall Street's "twin" approach to investing in IPOs seems to be to buy on the first day and sell after that.
Write to Paul R. La Monica at paul.lamonica@barrons.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 11, 2025 14:58 ET (18:58 GMT)
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