Gemini exchange, owned by the Winklewoss brothers, announced that it would become "the world's first licensed exchange trading Zcash."
The trading platform said it will open 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 cryptocurrency, supported by the exchange, after Bitcoin and Etherium.
" “Zcash picks up where Bitcoin left off,” Tyler Winklevoss, CEO of Gemini, said in a statement, adding “Bitcoin has many strengths, but privacy is not one of them.”
“Bitcoin and Zcash are two revolutionary technologies vying for different mantles,” added Cameron Winklevoss, the exchange’s president. “Bitcoin being digital gold and Zcash being digital cash.”
The addition of Zcash, a confidentiality-oriented cryptocurrency, 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.
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 (16:30 Moscow time), 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 cryptocurrency, so adding Zcash to Gemini can accelerate the appearance of futures for this cryptocurrency.
Over the past 24 hours, the price of Zcash has reached a local maximum of 360 dollars, showing growth of more than 40%.