Winklevoss Brothers Get $1 Billion from Bitcoin
CryptoBit News Today1 min read
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss turned part of their Facebook settlement into one of the largest early bitcoin positions, and the table follows that bet from the 2008 settlement to the December 2017 reports naming them the first bitcoin billionaires.
Estimates of their coin count varied by outlet, and the paper fortune swung by hundreds of millions of dollars within weeks as bitcoin fell in January 2018.
| Date | Milestone | Figures and detail |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 2008 | ConnectU settles with Facebook | Settlement reported at $65 million |
| Aug 2008 | Beijing Olympics | The twins finish sixth in the men's coxless pair final |
| 2012 | First bitcoin purchases | Same year they founded Winklevoss Capital Management |
| 2013 | Main bitcoin bet | About $11 million invested at roughly $120 per coin |
| 2013 holdings | Coin count estimates | About 91,666 BTC (Cointelegraph), 100,000 (The Telegraph), 120,000 (Fortune); never disclosed by the twins |
| 2014 | Gemini founded | New York-based cryptocurrency exchange run by the brothers |
| 10 Mar 2017 | SEC rejects Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust ETF | Regulator cited unregulated, manipulation-prone markets; bitcoin fell as much as 18% that day |
| 29 Nov 2017 | Bitcoin tops $11,000 | Users report trouble reaching the Gemini website |
| 4 Dec 2017 | Holdings pass $1 billion | Bitcoin at $11,247; the twins reportedly had sold none |
| 5 Dec 2017 | First bitcoin billionaires | Holdings put at about $1.063 billion with bitcoin above $11,400 |
| 19 Dec 2017 | Bitcoin near its peak | Price $17,362; more than 1,700% gain since 2013 |
| 18 Jan 2018 | Paper loss in the slide | Value down $922 million in a month, still near $1.4 billion with bitcoin at $11,854 |
| 7 Feb 2018 | Forbes crypto rich list | Ranked fourth, at $900 million to $1.1 billion each |
Sources: Fortune, Cointelegraph, CBS News, Bloomberg, Wikipedia, Yahoo Finance, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
