Gemini, the crypto exchange founded by Winklevoss Twins Cameron and Tyler, has launched the Gemini Wallet, a new self-custodial smart wallet that aims to streamline user access to Web3 protocols, decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, and on-chain applications, the company said in a blog post Thursday.
Gemini Crypto Exchange Launches Self-Custodial Smart Wallet
Winklevoss twins-backed exchange Gemini launched a wallet product on Thursday August 14th, presumably to better compete with rivals like Coinbase and Kraken in the consumer market.
So how does it hold up — and where does it fit into the increasingly competitive wallet landscape?
The Gemini Wallet is a self-custody solution that also ties into a web-based dashboard, dubbed “Onchain,” which essentially offers a bigger screen to examine your crypto portfolio and make trades.
Available at onchain.gemini.com, the Gemini Wallet allows users to move seamlessly between embedded and portable wallet experiences, removing the need for separate apps or complex seed phrases.
As of right now, this experience is on the web — there’s no standalone Gemini Wallet mobile app (yet). It’s not a Chrome browser extension either, though that could change at some point. Instead, some browser pop-ups will help you navigate the wallet sign-up and settings.
The onboarding process is a little different from what we’ve seen before. There are no Gmail single-sign on (SSO) flows, no passwords and no visible seed phrases. It doesn’t ask for any personal information, unlike onboarding with Gemini via an exchange account, which involves KYC.
Instead, it takes about two seconds to generate a wallet via your device’s passkey tech. After you pick a .gemini.eth username, you’re ready to roll.
Essentially, the username is a free ENS name attached to your Gemini Wallet, which is a nice perk.
After running through the setup flow myself, I was impressed and surprised by how speedy and smooth the onboarding process was. It was easier than MetaMask, Coinbase, Phantom, and Ronin Wallet, all of which I’ve used before (but whose UX has improved with time).
So far, the main embedded feature on Gemini Onchain, besides making basic crypto trades, is access to Gemini’s “vaults.” Traders can choose from the “Prime” vault (lower-risk) or the “Core” vault (higher-risk).
A pop-out explanation of the vaults describes them as a way to “invest and receive returns on your holdings by matching you directly with borrowers at better rates than traditional lending protocols.”
Gemini is covering gas fees for “key actions,” though it’s unclear for how long that gas sponsorship might last. The wallet currently supports Ethereum’s mainnet, plus ecosystem extensions Optimism, Polygon, Base, and Arbitrum.
The Gemini Onchain experience feels like a soft landing spot for total newbs to DeFi. Maybe it’s for people who come from a non-technical field, or the crypto-curious who have never touched it before. The wallet is not intimidating, but it’ll feel too simple for some traders.
One thing about the “Onchain” hub is that it’s not much of a hub as it stands right now, besides being a way to manage your own wallet via buys, sells and swaps, plus access to those vaults and some educational resources. The buttons to other trading tools like Uniswap link out to the external site without keeping you logged into your Gemini Wallet over there.
Maybe the team will add onto and build out this hub over time so it can feel more like a crypto destination.
I’m glad the Gemini Wallet exists — it’s one of the nicest onboarding processes I’ve encountered.
But because it could still use more functionality, I probably wouldn’t switch from my other existing wallets if given the choice.
Heating Competition
Competition in the crypto wallet space is heating up. Rival digital asset exchange Coinbase (COIN) recently announced the rebrand and technological overhaul of its Base layer 2 ecosystem.
This involved the transformation of Coinbase Wallet into the Base App, an all-in-one platform designed to merge finance, messaging, content creation, and decentralized applications under a single roof.
Plans For The Future
The rollout of the smart wallet is the just the beginning of the journey onchain, with many more launches planned in the future, said Gemini’s head of onchain, Eric Kuhn, in an interview.
An upcoming update will connect the wallet directly to users’ exchange accounts, enabling onchain trades without requiring separate deposits.
Gemini will be teaming up with BlockAid, WalletConnect, Bungee, and Morpho to aid the launch.
The Defiant reported that Gemini was expanding into DeFi with the upcoming launch of a platform dubbed Gemini Onchain, alongside a self-custodial wallet, in an article last week.
