Gemini Builds Recurring Custody Revenue

Gemini is using exchange activity to win the right to hold customer assets, because custody is the part of the relationship that behaves more like software or banking revenue than trading revenue. Institutions that already route large BTC orders through Gemini can keep those coins in the same regulated account, pay roughly 40 bps per year on assets held, and avoid moving funds to a separate custodian. That turns a low fee trading client into an ongoing asset based revenue stream.

• The logic is visible in the numbers. In H1 2025, institutional trading rose to $21.5B, or 87% of Gemini volume, while blended take rate fell to 0.18% and revenue declined 8% YoY. Custody matters because it gives Gemini a second way to monetize the same client even when per trade fees compress.
  1 sacra
• This is a different model from Kraken, where about 90% of revenue comes from transaction fees and revenue swings much more directly with market volume. Gemini still earns most revenue from trading, but custody, staking, card interchange, and reserve yield are the pieces that reduce pure exposure to crypto market cycles.
  1 sacra 3 sacra 4 sacra
• Qualified custodian status is the wedge. A hedge fund, ETF issuer, or corporate treasury often cannot leave assets on an ordinary exchange account. Gemini can offer regulated storage, cold vault infrastructure, insurance, and trading access in one workflow, which makes custody a natural cross sell after the first trade relationship is established.
  2 sacra 1 sacra

The next step is for Gemini to look less like a standalone exchange and more like a crypto prime broker. If more institutions use Gemini for trading, custody, stablecoin settlement, and other balance sheet adjacent services inside one regulated stack, a larger share of revenue will come from assets and workflows that persist between bull and bear markets.