Winklevoss crypto-exchange hires Starling Bank co-founder

The cryptocurrency exchange set up by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss has hired the co-founder of UK digital bank Starling to kick-start a European expansion, even as the fever over digital currencies cools.

Gemini Trust Company, the US crypto trading and custody group founded by the twin brothers in 2014, has recruited Julian Sawyer to head up its European operations in a bid to expand outside America.

The Winklevoss brothers were early and vocal backers of bitcoin, but their attempts to launch an exchange-traded fund backed by cryptocurrency suffered a series of setbacks over concerns about a lack of market regulation.

Gemini has made a string of high-profile hires over the past 18 months to expand its exchange and custody business, however, bringing in executives from the New York Stock Exchange and the International Securities Exchange (ISE).

But the group’s push into Europe comes as interest in cryptocurrency has eased.

Bitcoin now trades at around $7,000, far below…