Winklevoss Twins To Be The Subject Of Mezrich’s Next, Bitcoin Billionaires

By Rishma Banerjee

After being portrayed as apparent antagonists in “The Accidental Billionaires” Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are all set to be the main subject of a new book “Bitcoin Billionaires” by the same author, Ben Mezrich.

The book revolves around the twins’ redemption story built on their early belief in bitcoin, as they turned $11 million into more than $1 billion. The book is full of dramatic description of events and Mezrich expects the twins will develop a whole new fan base and support because of the book. The author also expects the book to be adapted into a movie.

Winklevosses’ story with bitcoin began when they were on a vacation on the picturesque island of Ibiza in the Mediterranean Sea in 2012, where they came across Brooklyn-based investor David Azar who first exposed them to the digital currency.

The new book shows how they were virtually blacklisted from investing in mainstream Silicon Valley startups because entrepreneurs are afraid of going against Facebook. The cryptocurrency community, on the other hand, welcomed their money, and the twins were early investors in BitInstant, run by Charlie Shrem and Erik Voorhees.

That venture did not end well when Shrem was imprisoned in 2014 for facilitating darkweb Silk Road, but the Winklevosses’ own bitcoin portfolio rose rapidly and they launched their Gemini exchange in 2015 that now has about 230 employees. They remain bullish on bitcoin’s future.

Tyler said,

“We still think it’s the bottom of the first inning,… If you look back to the dotcom era, maybe we’re post-2000 boom and bust, maybe we’re in 2001. Facebook launches within two or three years of that, Amazon’s still a small company relatively.”

Mezrich’s personal opinion of the Winklevoss twins changed significantly while he was working on “Bitcoin Billionaires. He said,

“I see them as American icons. There’s something that’s heroic. America needs mythology, and as much as I think Zuckerberg flipped and has now become something much darker.”

The Winklevosses, on the other hand, were very diplomatic about the subject of Zuckerberg and Facebook.

“A company of the stature of Facebook talking about the word crypto demystifies it, takes out the fear for some people.”

The book and possibly the movie is bound to be very interesting and a first of a kind venture with respect to cryptocurrency.

Rishma Banerjee

Rishma is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and has a special place in her life for sifting through all sorts of random trivia, thank you very much.

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