Winklevoss Twins Launch Stablecoin Pegged To Dollar As Bitcoin Price Falls

The Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron, launched the Gemini dollar, a regulated stablecoin that will enable users to send and receive U.S. dollars on the Ethereum network.

The stablecoin is meant to be a foil to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, whose erratic price fluctuations have drawn heavy criticism from financial experts.

The Winklevoss twins, who own the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, made the announcement in a September 10 Medium post. They said the Gemini dollar is the world’s first regulated stablecoin.

Pegged 1:1 To The U.S. Dollar

With the launch, the bitcoin billionaires said they hope to bridge the gap between the burgeoning crypto market and traditional banking systems.

“The Gemini dollar combines the creditworthiness and price stability of the U.S. dollar with blockchain technology and the oversight of U.S. regulators, namely, the New York State Department of Financial Services,” Cameron Winklevoss wrote.

Winklevoss said you can convert the U.S. dollars in your Gemini cryptocurrency account into Gemini dollars and withdraw them to any Ethereum address.

“You will also be able to automatically convert Gemini dollars into U.S. dollars by depositing them into your Gemini account,” he said.

Introducing the Gemini dollar! The world's first regulated stablecoin that brings US dollars onto the blockchain. Beyond proud of our @GeminiDotCom team as we continue to build the future of money! https://t.co/WytbQhuabO

— Cameron Winklevoss (@cameron) September 10, 2018

Building a viable stablecoin is as much of a trust problem as it is a computer science one. The Gemini dollar is the first stablecoin in the world that has solved for both. That's the innovation here. From our white paper: pic.twitter.com/g4IEXl6Ldm

— Tyler Winklevoss (@tyler) September 10, 2018

The unveiling comes on the heels of a major slump across the entire cryptocurrency market this summer, as prices for bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple tumbled below expectations.

Winklevoss Twins Push For Mainstream Adoption

The Winklevoss twins, who have been bitcoin evangelists since it launched in 2009, have been attempting to make virtual currencies mainstream by cooperating with financial regulators to improve transparency in the opaque industry.

In April 2018, the entrepreneurs partnered with Nasdaq Inc. to crack down on fraudulent bitcoin and ether trading on their cryptocurrency exchange, the Gemini Trust Company, as the Inquisitr previously reported.

The partnership was the first such arrangement between a high-profile stock exchange like Nasdaq and a digital currency platform such as Gemini.

When the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation into bitcoin price manipulation in May, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss were among the first cryptocurrency executives to publicly support the probe, saying regulatory scrutiny will help legitimize the virtual currency market by weeding out bad actors.

“We welcome any inquiry that serves to foster rules-based marketplaces and deter bad actors,” said Cameron Winklevoss, as the Inquisitr has reported.

Cryptocurrencies have their share of detractors, but longtime bitcoin enthusiasts like the Winklevoss twins said they have no doubt that crypto is here to stay, despite the daily declarations that “bitcoin is dead.”

As for bitcoin skeptics who can’t see its potential, Tyler Winklevoss said they suffer from a “failure of imagination.”