Gemini Exchange opens "licensed" trade Zcash

Owned by the Winklevoss brothers, the Gemini exchange announced that it would become "the world's first licensed exchange trading Zcash," report CCN.

The trading platform said it was opening trading pairs for Zcash (ZEC / USD, ZEC / BTC and ZEC / ETH). According to the company, this makes the site "the world's first licensed exchange trading Zcash." ZEC became the third crypto currency, supported by the exchange, after bitcoin and etherium.

"Zcash picked up the baton where bitcoin lost it," said Tyler Winklevoss, president of Gemini. "Bitcoin has many advantages, but confidentiality is not among them." "Bitcoin and Zcash are two revolutionary technologies competing for different markets," Cameron Winklevoss added. "Bitcoin is digital gold, and Zcash is digital money."

The addition of Zcash, a confidentiality-oriented crypto currency, is noteworthy given that Gemini is regulated by the New York City Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), whose BitLicense is considered one of the most stringent codes of practice applicable to US exchanges. Gemini has been approved by NYDFS for the listing of Zcash, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin, but has so far officially announced support for LTC or BCH.

Representatives of the exchange say they went through a lengthy approval process for listing in NYDFS before they officially decided to add Zcash to trading. Users can make deposits from both protected and unprotected addresses, but the withdrawal of funds is only available for the second type of address - probably because of concerns about compliance with anti-money laundering rules. This approach, in fact, eliminates most of the advantages of ZCash in terms of anonymity.

"This step confirms the long-standing commitment of New York to innovation and leadership in the global market. Thanks to thoughtful and careful regulation, the development of the industry will continue, "said Maria Vullo, head of NYDFS.

Trading pairs with ZEC will be officially opened for trading on May 22 at 9:30 am ET , but customers will be able to start making deposits on Saturday May 19.

It is noteworthy that Gemini delivers price data to the Chicago CBOE, which became the first regulated US platform to launch bitcoin futures trading. CBOE has repeatedly stated its desire to add more derivatives based on crypto currency, so adding Zcash to Gemini can accelerate the appearance of futures for this crypto currency.