Gemini Dollar (GUSD): What It Is, Uses and Risks

Gemini Dollar (GUSD) is a stablecoin, a crypto token designed to hold a steady value of one US dollar. The project material says it is issued by Gemini Trust Company, LLC, a New York trust company, and that each token is meant to be exchangeable one to one for US dollars through Gemini. The issuer describes it as a regulated stablecoin overseen by New York State financial regulators. The stated aim is to pair the price stability of the dollar with blockchain transfers. Because its target value is about one dollar, it is better understood as a digital dollar than as a bet on a project's growth. Most of what is publicly known comes from the issuer's own descriptions, so reserve reports, audits and regulatory status are worth checking directly rather than taking on trust.

Public descriptions point to a few common uses for dollar-pegged tokens. Traders often hold stablecoins between trades on exchanges, so they can move in and out of volatile assets without converting back to a bank account. Holders also use them to send dollar value between wallets, and search-listed material describes payment use. On Ethereum, stablecoins are widely used inside decentralized finance applications, where they can serve as a unit of account, a trading pair or collateral for loans. The project says GUSD can be obtained one to one for US dollars on Gemini, and its redemption route is part of what separates it from tokens that depend only on market demand. Whether a given app or exchange supports GUSD is a separate question, and support can change over time.

As of 2026-11-05, the data showed a price of about $0.9988, a market capitalisation of about $35.3 million and a circulating supply of about 35.33 million tokens. Total supply in the data matches circulating supply, and no maximum supply is listed. The token ranked about 586th by market capitalisation, with roughly $207,769 traded over 24 hours. Its seven-day price change was about 0.05 percent and its one-year change about minus 0.03 percent, which is consistent with a token trading close to its peg. The same data also lists an all-time high of about $8.60 on 2026-05-14 and an all-time low of about $0.415 on 2026-04-01. Figures that far from one dollar are unusual for a fully reserved stablecoin. They may reflect thin trading, data errors or pricing on illiquid venues, so verify them against several sources before drawing conclusions.

The data lists Ethereum and Near as chains where GUSD is issued, and it has no native chain of its own. The project describes the Ethereum version as an ERC-20 token whose smart contracts were audited by Trail of Bits, and the audit report is linked from the issuer's materials. The Near version is a separate deployment, so its security depends on its own contract and on any bridge used to move tokens between networks. A token with the same name on another chain is not automatically the same asset. The data does not give a launch date. The project text refers to conversions and withdrawals to Ethereum addresses starting on 10 September 2018, which is the closest public reference point in the material provided.

The main risks are issuer risk, reserve risk and redemption risk. Holders depend on Gemini Trust Company continuing to operate and honour redemptions. The project says the US dollar reserves sit at a US bank and may be eligible for FDIC pass-through deposit insurance, subject to limits, but that describes the bank deposits, not a guarantee that a token will always trade at one dollar. Regulatory changes, smart contract bugs and bridge failures on the Near version are further risks. Storage matters too. For the Ethereum version, a self-custody wallet that supports ERC-20 tokens is the usual option, while holding on an exchange adds counterparty risk. Before sending, confirm the network, since sending Ethereum tokens to a Near address or the reverse can result in lost funds. This page is research information, not investment advice.