In recent news, popular crypto company Gemini has been the victim of some fraud. On March 9th, Gemini announced that an unauthorized party had accessed some of its customer accounts and transferred funds to unknown external wallets. Fortunately, Gemini reported that only a small portion of their customers were affected and all customer funds are protected by their insurance policy, which insured all funds up to $200 million.
Gemini is led by brothers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who made headlines in 2004 by suing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, claiming ownership of the social media platform. Tyler and Cameron have since gone on to become leaders in the crypto industry, launching Gemini in 2015 as a platform for customers to buy, sell, store, and trade digital currency.
The company released a statement indicating that it had “detected suspicious activity” and “taken appropriate steps to protect [its] customers.” These steps included freezing access to affected accounts, requiring customers to reset their passwords, and refunding any stolen funds back to customers.
This incident left many customers feeling uneasy about the security of their funds on the platform, as Gemini had previously boasted its strict security protocols to its customers. Gemini has since issued an apology to the affected customers and is offering two-factor authentication and other security features to provide a more secure platform.
Ultimately, while this incident is unfortunate, it should serve as a reminder that fraud and security breaches can happen to any business, no matter how secure its protocols may be. The silver lining here is that Gemini acted quickly to protect its customers and has taken steps to make its platform more secure. Going forward, this incident should motivate other crypto companies to address their security protocols and consider their customers’ needs when it comes to managing their funds.