Gemini Teases ‘Onchain’ Platform as CEXs Push for DeFi Adoption

Gemini, the U.S. cryptocurrency exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, appears poised to deepen its foray into decentralized finance with the imminent launch of “Gemini Onchain.”

In a cryptic X post on Aug. 5, the exchange urged followers to “believe in somETHing,” dropping a link to a website called “Horizon,” the embedded JavaScript of which obscured its true destination until its countdown concludes on Aug. 14.

Upon inspecting the link, The Defiant found a hidden URL embedded in the page’s JavaScript code, pointing to a website for Gemini Onchain, what appears to be a proprietary DeFi platform, as well as a self-custodial wallet product, Gemini Wallet.

Gemini Onchain interface. Source: Gemini

Gemini Onchain interface. Source: Gemini

The platform shows a dashboard reminiscent of web3 portals on other centralized exchanges, like Binance and OKX, offering a DeFi protocol aggregator, alongside self-custody wallet, and swap functionalities.

Per the current design, it appears users will be able to execute token swaps natively, allocate assets into yield-bearing “Prime Vault” and “Frontier Vault” products, and access popular decentralized exchanges (DEXs) like Uniswap, Aave and Curve, as well as web3 domain registries, RWAs and third-party analytics platforms — via redirects to external dApps.

Gemini Onchain interface. Source: Gemini

A hidden link in Horizon website’s code also leads to a job posting for a senior software engineer position on Gemini’s Onchain team.

According to the listing, the team “builds Gemini’s onramps to the blockchain ‘from CSS to ECDSA’” and works on blockchain-based products and supporting platforms, including staking, transfers, and custody. The posting doesn’t provide further details about the broader purpose or scope of Gemini Onchain.

“As a Senior Software Engineer in the Onchain domain, you will work with talented engineers to enhance and expand the features of our blockchain-based products and the supporting platforms, including the Staking, Transfers, and Custody products,” the job’s description says, without elaborating on what Gemini Onchain means.

Gemini has neither publicly confirmed the functionality of the Onchain platform nor issued any public statements regarding its strategic intent. The Defiant reached out to Gemini for comments, but has not heard from the team by press time.

CeFi to DeFi Push

The drive to integrate CeFi and DeFi is not unique to Gemini. Coinbase, the largest U.S. CEX by daily volumes, launched a self-custody wallet years ago, which it recently rebranded to “Base App,” blending the brand with its Ethereum Layer 2, Base, and adding more on-chain functionality to merge wallet, trading, payments, messaging, and dApps discovery into a single interface.

Kraken, another top U.S.-based crypto exchange, also launched its own L2 network, called Ink, on Optimism’s Superchain in December 2024, and introduced its native INK token in June 2025. The token, now distributed to early users through airdrops, serves as the gas token for on-chain transactions and powers Kraken’s reward program.

Following Asia’s Lead

The push to bring all financial services under one roof has accelerated in the U.S. as regulators continue to push forward with crypto-friendly legislation and policies that provide long-awaited clarity to the industry.

As The Defiant reported earlier, Western fintech and crypto firms are actively trying to emulate Asia’s super app model, exemplified by WeChat. Douglas Colkitt, initial contributor at Layer 1 blockchain Fogo, told The Defiant that the idea of “everything apps” has had a cultural chokehold on the tech industry for the last decade, adding further that the fact “Coinbase and Robinhood have similar ambitions for finance is not surprising.”

However, others seem to be more skeptical. Mike Maloney of Incyt warned that super apps threaten crypto’s decentralized vision, calling them “vaporware” and arguing they promote regulatory capture, stifle competition, and overwhelm users, all while distracting from crypto’s core principles of trust and transparency.