Gemini Announces Litecoin Availability With NY State Approval

Gemini VP of Engineering Erin Winer announced today via the company blog that Gemini will now support Litecoin (LTC).

Trading Starts Next Week, Deposits Available Now

On Oct. 13 at 9:30 a.m. EST, users of the Gemini exchange will be able to deposit LTC into their accounts, and trading will begin the following Tuesday, October 16th. As of now the platform trades in three other cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ether, and Zcash. Gemini customers will be able to trade LTC for USD as well as the other three supported cryptocurrencies.

We are pleased to announce that @litecoin (LTC) is now available on Gemini! Starting tomorrow, we will begin accepting Litecoin deposits, and trading will open across all currency pairs on Tuesday. For more information, please visit our blog on @Medium https://t.co/it5xuF9Hr5

— Gemini (@GeminiTrust) October 12, 2018

Winer notes in the post that LTC is part of the original Bitcoin network and Gemini hopes to use it to push the adoption of crypto for daily transactions.

Gemini has also been given the green light by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS), which already oversees the exchange. Winer stressed the importance of security to Gemini in the announcement, saying the exchange has worked with the NYSDFS “closely” to gain approval for LTC on their platform:

“The addition of Litecoin further solidifies Gemini’s standing as the go-to exchange for retail and institutional investors alike. Gemini continues to grow with a “security-first” approach and we have worked closely with the NYSDFS to gain approval for Litecoin trading and custody services.”

New York State Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood is one of many government regulators to raise concerns around the security of cryptocurrency and its related exchanges, and her office recently collected data from many of the major platforms on their security measures. Her office compiled the findings into a report that raised some hackles in the crypto community, provoking public responses from Kraken and Coinbase.

Holding Off on BCH

Gemini also planned an announcement for Bitcoin Cash (BCH) today, but Winer said the possibility of at least one hard fork coming in November caused the company to be wary enough to hold off for now, as the forks may not support the security measures needed for safe trading. Winer wrote:

“Some of those forks lack the replay protection feature that would be required for Gemini to safely support Bitcoin Cash. Because of this situation, we are delaying our launch of Bitcoin Cash deposits, withdrawals, and trading until late November.”

The post closed on an optimistic note for the “future of money,” and a reassertion that Gemini will continue to work closely with regulators to “provide consumer protection.”