Gemini has sold its UK and European operations to KAST, the Singapore-based stablecoin payments company, for less than $10 million, CoinDesk reported on Thursday, citing a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. Gemini declined to comment. A KAST spokesperson would not discuss the deal, but said the company is actively in the market for M&A as its revenue and footprint grow.
There was no joint announcement, so the price rests on CoinDesk's source. A KAST recruitment listing about a month ago tasked a prospective European general manager with overseeing the transition of Gemini's UK and European Union staff, CoinDesk said, which was the earliest public sign of the transaction.
Gemini announced in February that it would wind down operations in the UK, the EU and Australia and cut about 25% of its global workforce, while keeping its US and Singapore businesses. At the time, we reported that Gemini was to exit Europe, the UK and Australia . The restructuring was followed by a heavy loss; Gemini posted a $585 million annual loss and a 30% workforce cut six months after its IPO.
CoinDesk reported in April that potential buyers were examining Gemini's shuttered UK and European businesses to obtain their regulatory permissions, rather than to take over the whole Nasdaq-listed company. Gemini had built up a string of European registrations and licences. It secured a MiCA licence from Malta's financial regulator in 2025, one of the first five issued there, and it had a Maltese MiFID II investment firm licence for derivatives before that.
Neither company has said which entities or authorisations are part of the sale. Licences do not automatically move with an acquisition. Under MiCA, buying a licensed company is generally a change of control that needs regulatory review, and the same applies to UK FCA registration.
The permissions matter more than they once did. The transition period for firms operating under national rules ended across the EU on July 1, 2026, and since then any provider serving EU clients without a MiCA licence must stop, according to a MiCA explainer citing ESMA . Buying an entity that already holds approval can be quicker than applying, though a regulator can still refuse to approve the new owner.
KAST provides accounts, cross-border transfers and payment cards that let consumers and businesses hold, move and spend stablecoins. It was founded by former Circle executive Raagulan Pathy and raised $80 million in March in a Series A led jointly by QED Investors and Left Lane Capital, with licensing and compliance among the planned uses of the money. For more insight, tune in to our podcast with Raagulan way back in 2024 when Kast first started.
The sale fits a shift towards small deals that buy licences and distribution. Crypto M&A totalled $2.2 billion across 67 announced transactions in the third quarter, down 83% by value from the previous quarter, according to Architect Partners , as cited by CoinDesk. Blockhead has covered an earlier version of the strategy, when Robinhood brought crypto trading to the UK two years after buying the licence to do it .
For Gemini, the sale of a retired business brings in a small amount of cash and helps close out the wind-down. It continues to focus on the US and Singapore, where Blockhead reported that Gemini won a full Singapore payment licence after a 23-month restructuring . The Winklevoss twins' investment arm put $100 million into the company in May, paid in bitcoin at $14 a share, and in August Gemini signed a letter of intent with Apex Fintech Solutions to distribute its regulated prediction markets to brokerages, CoinDesk said. Blockhead understands that the Singapore office was downsized significantly just prior to the licence approval.
Gemini reports third-quarter results after the US close on Thursday, with a call on Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET, and may say more about the sale. The questions for KAST are which UK and EU entities and authorisations it received, whether the FCA and the Maltese regulator approve the change of control, and when it plans to launch in Europe. Former Gemini customers in the region were told to leave earlier this year, and the reports do not say whether their accounts will return under KAST.