ByCoinGape
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In a major product expansion, crypto exchange Gemini has entered stock trading, marking one of its biggest moves beyond digital assets.
The exchange will onow ffer commission-free trading in thousands of U.S.-listed stocks. For the service, Nasdaq will be providing real-time market data and Apex Clearing Corporation will act as the custodian and clearing broker.
Stocks now available on @Gemini. 📈 https://t.co/69wV2idCw2
— Tyler Winklevoss (@tyler) July 7, 2026
As per the official press release, Gemini is set to offer its stock trading service using Apex’s infrastructure. While Gemini will own the customer experience, Apex Clearing will provide the regulated brokerage infrastructure powering the service behind the scenes.
Acting as the custodian and clearing broker, Apex is responsible for clearing and settling equity trades. It safeguards customer securities, maintains brokerage accounts and ensures compliance with U.S. market regulations.
The exchange is leveraging Apex’s brokerage-as-a-service infrastructure instead of building its own clearing operations. With this, Gemini can bring commission-free stock trading to market more quickly while focusing on expanding its consumer-facing financial ecosystem.
The launch comes as Gemini works to build itself into a fully regulated multi-asset exchange. Earlier this year, the company secured a Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) license from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). This added to its existing Designated Contract Market (DCM) license as it expands beyond crypto spot trading into equities, derivatives and prediction markets.
Gemini is far from the only crypto exchange expanding into traditional financial markets. Over the past months, several major exchanges have launched or announced stock trading products. This comes as exchnages look to diversify revenue beyond crypto and keep users within a single investing ecosystem.
Binance made the biggest push in June by launching access to more than 7,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs for eligible international users. It has also introduced tokenized equities under its bStocks initiative. According to Block of fame report, the platform generated roughly $143 million in average daily trading volume in just first nine days of its U.S. equities rollout.
Meanwhile, Robinhood continues to demonstrate why exchanges are chasing equities. The brokerage reported $315.3 billion in equity trading volume in May 2026, compared with $12.2 billion in crypto trading volume during the same month.
Robinhood also averaged 4.8 million stock trades per day and managed $377 billion in customer assets, underscoring the scale of the traditional brokerage business compared with crypto trading.
Kraken has also entered the market, launching trading in more than 11,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs. It is also simultaneously expanding tokenized equity offerings through xStocks.
The trend extends to Coinbase too, which has said stock trading and tokenized equities are a strategic priority as it seeks to evolve into an “everything financial app.”
Sneha Agrawal More Stories
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