Gemini Continues European Expansion With New Institutional Sales Role

The New York-regulated exchange Gemini is looking to expand its foothold in Europe, advertising for a new director-level role to head institutional sales.

The new director for European sales will promote and grow Gemini's business across Europe and the U.K. as well as "generate new business" by creating relationships with institutional clients, the exchange said in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday.

The new sales director will work closely with Gemini's European managing director in the London office but will report directly to the managing director of operations based in New York. While the exchange already has a U.S.-based sales team, the new role is designed to enhance the exchange's institutional global sales capability.

Speaking to CoinDesk at the CryptoCompare Digital Asset Summit last week, Julian Sawyer, managing director of Gemini Europe, said European expansion was "critically important."

"Gemini is very well known in the states, particularly in New York; coming here, Gemini has a lower profile ... so we need to build that up and the credibility," said Sawyer, who joined Gemini in December after being chief operating officer of Starling, a U.K. challenger bank.

"Part of what I'm doing is just letting people know that we [Gemini] are here ... that we've got a little bit more serious in the crypto world by hiring bankers," he added.

As part of this new charm offensive, Sawyer said Gemini was already talking with local fintech providers about possible API integrations. The newly formed institutional sales division will begin cultivating relationships with big players in both the U.K. and Europe months or even years before they consider becoming a full Gemini client.

Although Gemini is only hiring a sales director currently, Sawyer added the exchange planned to hire more members for its European sales team as its regional presence continues to expand.

In December 2019, the U.S.-based asset manager Fidelity said it was setting up an entity to provide digital asset services for institutional investors.