Gemini expands Singapore hub as it looks beyond the US for crypto adoption

Gemini plans to increase its headcount in Singapore to more than 100 employees over the next year. The office will be the company's main hub for its ramped up plans to target the Asia market.

"Our Singapore office will serve as a hub for our larger APAC operations. We believe that APAC will be a great driver of the next wave of growth for crypto and Gemini," the company said in a blog post.

Gemini is already in the middle of opening an engineering center in Gurgaon, India. It's also actively hiring there — with a focus on software engineers and technical product managers — hoping to make it the company's second biggest engineering hub after the U.S.

The expansion plans are part of Gemini's wider push to access a non-U.S. audience. Gemini first detailed its plans for Gemini Foundation, a crypto derivatives exchange focused on customers outside of the U.S, in April. The foundation is destined to be based in Singapore, Fortune reported.

The news comes as authorities in the U.S. crack down heavily on major U.S.-based crypto exchanges for listing cryptocurrencies it claims are unregistered securities. The SEC has sued Coinbase and Binance in recent weeks.

Looking outside of the US

Coinbase is also looking away from the U.S. for similar reasons. In May, it extended the range of services it offers customers in Singapore.

“The message here is the world is sort of moving on with or without the U.S. and we are very committed as a global company to keep moving forward on international expansion,” said Hassan Ahmed, country director for Singapore at Coinbase, at the time.