Gemini’s bitcoin block trading facility ready for launch

Gemini, the US licensed bitcoin and ether exchange today announced the launch Gemini Block Trading, a fully electronic block trading facility. Block trading enables customers to buy and sell large quantities of digital assets outside of Gemini’s continuous order books.

The new service will create an additional mechanism to source liquidity when trading in greater size.

The block trading facility will go live this week at 9:30am ET on Thursday, April 12th.

How it works:

• Any customer can place a block order that specifies: (i) buy or sell, (ii) quantity, (iii) minimum required fill quantity, (iv) and a price limit (the “Indication of Interest”).
• Market makers only receive quantity, minimum quantity, and the collar price — they do not receive any other information (i.e., side, price limit, etc.) related to the block order. If a market maker agrees to “make a market” that satisfies the Indication of Interest, the block order will be filled.

If you are looking to participate as a market maker in Gemini Block Trading or for further information, Gemini noted to contact bizdev@gemini.com.

Cameron Winklevoss, Co-Founder and President at Gemini team stated:

“In accordance with our commitment to an equitable, transparent, and rules-based marketplace, block orders will be electronically broadcast to participating market makers simultaneously, ensuring best execution and price discovery for those participating in the program. Block orders do not interact with our continuous or auction order books. Trade information will be published via our market data feeds ten minutes following the execution of a block trade.”