It has been 14 years since Bitcoin, the most famous of cryptocurrencies, was first released. While this digital investment tool attracted great attention, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that emerged over time made many people rich. There are even billionaires with crypto money, such as the Winklevoss twins, who are known as the first crypto billionaires in the world.
The Winklevoss brothers’ name comes up frequently, as they recently sued Digital Currency Group’s CEO, Barry Silbert. For a while, they occupied the US agenda for a long time with the compensation lawsuit they filed against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. So how did the Winklevoss brothers become billionaires? Here is the extraordinary story of the twins from competing in the Olympics to wealth…
Lawsuit with Facebook…
Brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss were born in 1981 in New York, USA. Their father was a professor at Wharton College, University of Pennsylvania, one of the world’s leading economic schools. Brothers Cameron and Tyler also decided to study economics at the famous Harvard University and graduated from this school in 2004.
While the Winklevoss brothers were studying at Harvard, Divya Narenda founded HarvardConnection, a social media platform that allows students at the school to communicate with each other. Later, this site took the name ConnectU. In 2004, the Winklevoss brothers sued Mark Zuckerbeg, with whom they worked briefly at Harvard University. The Winklevoss brothers claimed that Zuckerberg got the idea to set up Facebook from them. In 2008, Zuckerberg agreed with the brothers, promising to pay a total of $65 million.
The Winklevoss brothers, who wanted to invest in technology in Silicon Valley with the money they earned from Zuckerberg, were not successful in this regard. They even say in an interview that they later learned they were blacklisted in Silicon Valley. Investors and companies didn’t want to do business with Tyler and Cameron because of the Facebook lawsuit.
They met Bitcoin in 2012
The brothers met Bitcoin while vacationing on the famous Spanish island of Ibiza in 2012. Tyler and Cameron took the risk and bought $11 million worth of Bitcoin at $8 per unit. At first, things didn’t go as planned. They invested $1.5 million in BitInstant, a platform that allows them to buy Bitcoin with US dollars. Unfortunately, when BitInstant’s connection to some fraudulent transactions was revealed, the company was shut down and its CEO, Charlie Shrem, was sentenced to a year in prison.
Thereupon, the Winklevoss brothers decided to establish their own company. In 2013, they announced that they would establish the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini. Opened in 2014, Gemini has grown over the years. Before NFTs, also called digital artworks of our time, became so popular, it also bought Nifty Gateway, one of the leading NFT markets, in 2019. Gemini reached $7.1 billion in 2021. According to Forbes, $70 million worth of cryptocurrencies are traded on the stock market today.
The Winklevoss brothers have 70,000 Bitcoins!
The Winklevoss twins became billionaires in 2017 when the price of Bitcoin exceeded $20,000 for the first time and are recognized as the world’s first Bitcoin billionaires. According to Forbes magazine, today both the Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss brothers have a net worth of $1.5 billion each. The twins are estimated to have around 70,000 Bitcoins. Today, that amount is worth more than $2 billion. He also has various investments in the finance sector with the company Winklevoss Capital Management, which he founded.
Tyler and Cameron have an interesting life outside of Bitcoin. Rowing since age 15, the Winklevosses represented the United States in the doubles category at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Competing in the final, Tyler and Cameron finished the race in sixth place. Cameron Winklevoss also holds a bronze medal at the 2009 World Rowing Championships. The brothers also have a musical group.
Sources: Forbes, Decrypt, Coinmarketcap, The Guardian
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