DeFi arrives in New York as Gemini lists Compound

Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini announced on Friday that traders could begin depositing Pax Gold, Amp and Compound into their accounts. Trading in the assets will begin on September 15th.

Pax Gold and Amp the latest additions to the Gemini exchange

The New York-based exchange to buy Bitcoin with PayPal and led by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss said it will offer trading pairs with the US dollar for the three new tokens via its ActiveTrader platform and API connections.

The most noteworthy addition is $ COMP, the governance token for the Compound decentralized lending protocol that has a market cap of $ 563 million, according to analytics site Coin Gecko.

Governance tokens are used to rate updates to the network, this is part of what makes Compound more decentralized than other blockchain networks. $ COMP is given as a reward to those who lend money on Compound.

Since receiving so-called “governance tokens” like this is a relatively new phenomenon and the DeFi explosion this summer is on a scale never seen before, regulators may have had problems with the token.

Approved in New York jurisdiction

Right now, New York lawmakers, known to be tougher than other states, are in favor of Gemini's policy of listing the COMP. Another token that Gemini has listed is Amp. Amp is a digital guarantee token that offers "instant and verifiable guarantee for any type of value transfer".

In the past 24 hours, its trading volume was $ 337.684 according to the decentralized exchange Uniswap. The latest is Pax Gold (PAXG), a stablecoin pegged to the price of gold. Its market capitalization is over $ 61 million.

Gemini said they have taken the right regulatory measures to make the latest quotes possible. New York State is particularly strict when it comes to cryptocurrency regulation, and exchanges must obtain a BitLicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services to list assets.

Gemini's politically correct approach

Tyler Winklevoss tweeted on Friday that "the DeFi revolution is upon us". Compound will be the first decentralized finance (DeFi) token available for trading on Gemini, an exchange that typically lists fewer assets than others.

With the new three tokens, a total of 12 assets will be available for trading on the exchange. Gemini may seem overdue in the DeFi rush - other major exchanges have long listed DeFi tokens - but the exchange has taken a tough New York law-compliant approach by getting its approval, while others haven't even tried. Coinbase, for example, was one of the first exchanges to list Compound, but its New York users cannot trade the token.