Crypto exchange Gemini announced its exit from the United Kingdom, European Union and Australia markets on Thursday, as the company slashed its workforce by 25%.
Gemini cited artificial intelligence automating labor and making engineers “100x” more efficient, and a more challenging business environment in the UK, EU and Australia, as reasons for the exit, according to Thursday’s announcement:
“These foreign markets have proven hard to win in for various reasons, and we find ourselves stretched thin with a level of organizational and operational complexity that drives our cost structure up and slows us down.
“We don’t have the demand in these regions to justify them. The reality is that America has the world’s greatest capital markets,” the announcement said.
The company will instead focus its resources on developing its prediction market platform, Gemini Predictions, which launched in December 2025, and building its business in the US.
The news comes at a challenging time for the crypto industry, as digital asset prices continue to bleed amid a broad market downturn that began with a flash crash in October and the stalling of the CLARITY Act, a widely anticipated US crypto market structure bill.
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Gemini shifts focus to prediction markets as the sector grows
Gemini’s announcement highlighted the growing role of prediction markets in its strategy, which it says will be “more front-and-center” on its platform.
“Our thesis is that prediction markets will be as big or bigger than today’s capital markets,” the announcement said.
The company said it has recorded over 10,000 users on Gemini Predictions and $24 millon in trading volume since launch.
Prediction market trading volume surged in the third quarter of 2024 during the US presidential election, with a 565.4% quarter-on-quarter increase in total trading volume, reaching about $3.1 billion.
In January 2026, daily prediction market trading volume ranged from about $277 million to about $550 million, according to data from Dune.
The market remains dominated by Polymarket and Kalshi, with Polymarket accounting for over 37% of total prediction market 24-hour trading volume and Kalshi commanding over 26%, according to Dune.
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