Gemini Trust, the cryptocurrency exchange founded by brothers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, named NYSE’s top technology executive to be its first chief technology officer, another sign the wild west digital currency sector is moving more mainstream.
Robert Cornish was NYSE’s chief information officer, a role that oversaw the Big Board’s ongoing electronic trading overhaul. He joins Gemini later this month, according to the company’s announcement, where he will take over technology initiatives.
A wave of Wall Street executives have jumped to digital currency startups this year, giving the sector once considered a fringe movement added legitimacy. Former Goldman Sachs executive Richard Kim became the chief operating officer of Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital, CNBC reported earlier this year. And Michael Bucella left Goldman for BlockTower Capital, a crypto firm founded by former Goldman vice president Matt Goetz.
At Gemini, Cornish “will ensure that Gemini continues to deliver the best platform experience to our customers as possible and set the standards of excellence for the cryptocurrency industry as a whole,” Tyler Winklevoss, Gemini’s CEO, said in the statement.
Gemini recently won New York state regulatory approval to offer bitcoin cash and litecoin for trading and custody and is the first to receive a New York license for trading in Zcash, another cryptocurrency.
