Gemini announces COO, CFO and CLO departures in wholesale leadership shakeup

Gemini Space Station Inc., the crypto exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins, has revealed in an SEC Form 8-K filing that its Chief Operating Officer (COO) Marshall Beard, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Dan Chen, and Chief Legal Officer (CLO) Tyler Meade are all exiting their positions immediately. 

A replacement is not expected to be named for the COO position, with those duties expected to now be directed to Cameron Winklevoss. The other two roles already have interim replacements on hand 

The announcement comes days after the exchange revealed plans to lay off about 25% of its workforce and pull out of several countries, including the UK. 

Leadership overhaul at Gemini

The COO, Marshall Beard, not only stepped down from his position but also resigned from the board of directors. However, the company claims that his resignation did not happen because of a disagreement with Gemini regarding its operations, policies, or practices. 

His position will remain vacant as Gemini reportedly has no plans to appoint a successor. From here on out, Cameron Winklevoss, one of the company’s cofounders, will assume many of Beard’s responsibilities, particularly the revenue-generation functions, in addition to his current role. 

The CFO position will be taken over by Danijela Stojanovic, who has been acting in the Interim position since May 2025. She is a licensed CPA with experience working in senior finance roles at Blue Apron and PwC. Her compensation will include a $450,000 base salary and a restricted stock unit award of 132,275 shares vesting over two years.  

Kate Freedman, a former Associate General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, has been tapped as Interim CLO/General Counsel. 

The three departing executives are expected to enter separation agreements with the company, which could include limited transition services in exchange for continued base salary and benefits. 

No explicit reason has been given for what is going on, but experts are describing it as a major leadership shakeup linked to post-IPO cost-cutting measures and strategic retrenchment. 

Gemini unveiled plans to cut workforce and wind down global operations 

News of the shakeup in Gemini’s executive structure comes 12 days after the company revealed it is cutting up to 25% of its workforce and ending operations in the United Kingdom, European Union, and Australia.

The layoffs are expected to impact about 200 employees across Gemini’s operations in the US, Europe, and Singapore, and the Winklevoss twins have defended the cuts by claiming they would allow Gemini to “double down on America” and serve US customers.

“These foreign markets have proven hard to win in for various reasons, and we find ourselves stretched thin with a level of organizational and operational complexity that drives our cost structure up and slows us down,” the twins said in a blog post. “And we don’t have the demand in these regions to justify them.”

The crypto exchange has said it expects to be done with the layoffs and end operations in the aforementioned overseas markets by the first half of the year. All of this is happening months after Gemini went public via IPO.

Since the IPO, the stock has declined sharply, with preliminary 2025 figures showing significant net losses and operating costs that outpace revenue growth.

The GEMI stock is down almost 14% on the day, according to Yahoo Finance.