Gemini to close customer accounts in the UK, EU and Australia

Gemini has decided to discontinue retail account services for customers located in the United Kingdom, countries inside the European Union, and Australia. The exchange is notifying impacted users and instructing them on options to retrieve or transfer their digital assets, a process the firm says will be supported but limited by local rules. Executives framed the withdrawal as a response to shifting regulatory requirements and the rising cost and complexity of maintaining compliance across multiple jurisdictions. The pullback follows a broader trend of crypto firms narrowing international footprints as licensing regimes diverge and enforcement intensity increases. For customers in affected regions the immediate consequence is administrative friction: accounts will be frozen for new activity and eventual closures will force on-chain or off-platform moves. Competitors that retain operations in those markets may see short-term inflows if they can onboard users quickly and meet local regulatory expectations. Regulators and consumer advocates are likely to scrutinize the exit process, focusing on communication clarity, asset safety, and timelines for fund access. For Gemini, the decision reduces regulatory exposure and concentrates resources on markets where it believes compliance is sustainable, but it may also erode brand trust among international users. Institutional counterparties and partners will watch execution closely; any operational missteps could raise counterparty risk concerns. The move underscores a structural challenge for multi-jurisdictional crypto service providers: fragmented rules create economically driven choices that reshape where and how digital-asset services are offered. In the medium term this could accelerate consolidation toward platforms with deep compliance budgets or force new regional specialists to emerge. Customers, regulators and market participants will now be assessing whether the withdrawal is a temporary retrenchment or a lasting reorientation of Gemini’s global strategy.