The
twin brothers who successfully sued Mark Zuckerberg, claiming he
stole the concept for Facebook are now billionaires after investing
their lawsuit winnings in bitcoin. The cryptocurrency surpassed a
record high of $11,700 on Sunday.
According
to the Telegraph, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss bought 1 percent of
all currently mined bitcoin for a price of $11 million in 2013. Since
then, the $11 million crypto-bet has ballooned by almost 10,000
percent, making the twins the first bitcoin billionaires.
The
brothers first gained notoriety in 2006 after launching legal
proceedings against Mark Zuckerberg, claiming the Facebook founder
was a phony who stole their idea for the now-ubiquitous social media
platform. In 2009, the Winklevoss twins received a settlement from
Facebook valued at more than $65 million.
The
twins used part of their settlement money to invest heavily in
bitcoin. In October 2015, the brothers launched Gemini, a bitcoin
exchange described by the Financial Times as “one of the first
regulated and licensed digital currency exchanges in the developed
world.”
“We
wanted to build an exchange that was similar to Nasdaq or NYSE for
digital currency,” Tyler told the FT in an interview. “We
wanted something that both Wall Street and Main Street felt
comfortable with.”
The
twins describe bitcoin as “better than gold.” The
cryptocurrency, which was introduced in 2009 as an alternative to
government-controlled fiat, has enjoyed a meteoric rise in value over
the last year.
Now
up more than 12-fold for the year, one bitcoin was selling at below
$1,000 on January 1. It remains to be seen whether Mark Zuckerberg
will claim credit for the twins’ wise investment.
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