I got verified without passport. But not from the link https://exchange.gemini.com/register/verify which asks for passport. I received this reply in email-
I was allowed to upload as many document as I wanted. So at first I only uploaded my Driving Licence (images of both sides), e-Aadhaar and e-PAN but was rejected as physical documents were required and not electronic version. So I was asked to upload again.
2nd time I uploaded images of my Driving Licence, Aadhaar, PAN and also my Bank Statement of last month. And this got me verified. I have to say, Gemini support is better than Uphold’s, as I got rejected once and verified again in the same day (within 12 hrs).
It looks like I have written a blog or something but cheers anyway.