Gemini will not be hiring any graduates from MIT as long as former US Securities and Exchange Commission chair, Gary Gensler remains associated with the school.
In an X post, Tyler Winklevoss, co–founder of crypto exchange Gemini, stated that owing to Gensler’s association with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), “not even interns for our summer intern program” will be allowed into the exchange firm.
“As long as @MIT has any association with Gary Gensler, @Gemini will not hire any graduates from this school,” he said on X. “Not even interns for our summer intern program.”
Winklevoss made this statement publicly on social media, following the return of Gensler to MIT. Gary Gensler returned as a Professor of the Practice at the Sloan School of Management.
He will be part of both the Global Economics and Management Group and the Finance Group, focusing on artificial intelligence, finance, financial technology, and public policy.
At MIT, Gensler will co-direct the FinTechAI@CSAIL initiative, collaborating with leading MIT researchers to explore AI applications in finance. His return marks a continuation of his academic work at MIT, where he previously taught and conducted research on blockchain, finance, and technology.
Before rejoining MIT, Gensler served as the Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), overseeing the $120 trillion U.S. capital markets. However, his leadership at the SEC has been widely criticized by many in the cryptocurrency industry, who believe his regulatory approach is overly strict and harmful to innovation.
The tension between Gemini and the SEC escalated when the regulatory agency sued Gemini and Genesis Global Capital over their Gemini Earn program, accusing them of offering unregistered securities.
This lawsuit, along with other enforcement actions against cryptocurrency firms, has fueled growing frustration in the industry. The position of many crypto leaders is that Gensler has failed to provide clear guidelines for companies while aggressively pursuing legal action against them.
Winklevoss is making a symbolic protest against what he perceives as unfair treatment of the crypto industry by Gensler. He is sending a strong message that institutions associated with Gensler will face consequences in the business world.
His statement has sparked debate, with some supporting his stand against regulatory pressure and others questioning whether it is fair to penalize students and graduates of MIT for their university’s past ties to Gensler.
For example, Erik Voorhees the founder of Shapeshift crypto exchange and AI firm, Venice AI believes “every crypto company should boycoutt MIT grads until Gary is fired….We can use peace and our own market discretion where Gary used coercion and extortion.
Tyler’s brother and also co-founder of Gemini, Cameron Winklevoss, called hiring Gensler “the world’s leading expert on public policy failures” at MIT “a bad idea.”
However, X user artchick.eth called the decision to blacklist MIT graduates and interns “being petty.”