Who became rich from bitcoin?
Everyone knows the Winklevii (aka the “Winklevoss Twins”), who famously sued Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly stealing their idea for Facebook. They are now among the 400 richest Americans, with an estimated worth of $600 million.
What you might not know is that these two Harvard graduates were also early investors in Bitcoin. In a joint venture with their twin brother Cameron Winklevoss, they made $11.5 million from initial Bitcoin investments in 2009, when the cryptocurrency was created.
Though the brothers have not spoken about their investment in Bitcoin, some of their friends have explained it to journalists. For example, “When I first met them in 2011… [the Winklevoss twins] told me they had invested early on in Facebook,” says investor Tyler Winklevoss. “They bought about $11 million worth of Facebook at a time when the price was $24, and the stock closed on Monday at around $160.”
So what made these two smart Harvard graduates invest so early in Bitcoin? Obviously, their investment decision was closely related to the riskiness of investing in a new technology. But there are also other factors that make sense. One is that they were also interested in investing in gold and silver, as well as real estate which they think will appreciate over time. They also had a keen interest in investing in natural resources such as oil and gas. Another factor is that they wanted to get involved early in companies that have the potential of becoming huge. They think that Bitcoin is just one of these companies, and saw an opportunity to invest early on before others did the same.
However, having already won their case against Facebook, the Winklevoss twins do not necessarily want to make another fortune from Bitcoin. Though they have not publicly said so, it is almost certain that the Winklevoss twins hold onto their investment in Bitcoin and do not plan to sell it off anytime soon. Bitcoin is still very much in its early stages, and with the growing number of new users, its exchange rate against the dollar is also expected to increase. If this turns out to be true, early investors in Bitcoin like the Winklevoss twins could get very rich indeed.
Why the Winklevoss twins decided to invest in Bitcoin
Before the Winklevoss twins decided to invest in Bitcoin, they already had a good knowledge of how money worked. They are both Harvard graduates and were not unfamiliar with currencies. So they were confident that Bitcoin was in fact a new currency that would eventually become very popular like all currencies have done in the past.
When asked what made them decide to invest in Bitcoin, Cameron Winklevoss said: “We spent a lot of time looking into the currency and trying to understand why. We thought it was massively undervalued for a number of reasons that we didn’t understand at the time.” The reasons he mentioned are the potential of Bitcoin as an innovative payment system, its potential as a medium of exchange, and its extraordinary level of security.
The Winklevoss twins reasoned that in the future, Bitcoin could become a store of value and a means of exchange. The value would be based on people’s confidence in it and its reputation. Though this is still impossible to predict a hundred per cent, there are indications that it will already become a popular currency.
The reason for this is that Bitcoin has already successfully surpassed its biggest competitor – gold. In fact, there are now more Bitcoins than gold the world over.
Comments
Post a Comment