Winklevoss twins launch ‘hack-free’ bitcoin site

Gemini, a new bitcoin exchange announced Friday, intends to assuage the cybersecurity and regulatory concerns that have plagued the virtual currency for years.

{mosads}Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, best known for their drawn-out lawsuit against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, are behind the exchange.

They believe it will provide an easy bitcoin payment process “that is free of hacking, fraud and security breaches,” Cameron Winklevoss said in a blog post.

Bitcoin had a rough start to 2015 when its price fell dramatically following a hack at a major exchange.

Financial regulators have also moved to increase reporting requirements around the cryptocurrency, which can be swapped for physical money or used to make purchases directly at an increasing number of retailers.

During the recent cyberattack on the exchange Bitstamp, hackers made off with roughly $5 million worth of bitcoins. Last year, a suspected hack caused major bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox to lose $475 million in bitcoins and go bankrupt.

Gemini thinks it can avoid similar pitfalls.

“Our goal was simple: bring together the nation’s top security experts, technologists, and financial engineers to build a world-class exchange from the ground up with a security-first mentality,” Cameron Winklevoss wrote.

The co-founders also claim the exchange will be fully insured by a New York-based bank and fully compliant with the expected upcoming bitcoin regulations from New York state’s financial watchdogs.

“This means that your money will never leave the country,” Winklevoss said. “Your US dollars on Gemini will be as safe and secure as they are in your bank account today.”