Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss went from being the co-originators of Facebook deceived by Mark Zuckerberg (as dramatized in the film “The Social Network”) to early crypto adopters who became "Bitcoin billionaires." Now their firm has been charged by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The former Olympic rowers are best known for accusing Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea for a social network. They used some of their $65 million legal settlement with the Facebook CEO to start stockpiling Bitcoin.
What Is the Winklevoss Twins' Net Worth? The Winklevoss twins are worth some $2.1 billion each. Their net worth fluctuates along with their investments. They invested in bitcoin and crypto startups and started their own cryptocurrency exchange company, Gemini.
For those wondering how much bitcoin the Winklevoss twins own, the answer is around 70,000 bitcoins.
The Winklevoss gathered their wealth through their early investment in Bitcoin. The net worth of Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss is estimated to be around $2 billion each, summing to $4 billion in total. More so, their success in the crypto space includes the establishment of the Bitcoin lending platform, BlockFi.
Amid all the action, there's also no shortage of money to be made in the $2 trillion crypto economy. Just ask the record 19 billionaires—7 more than last year—on Forbes' annual World's Billionaires list, published Tuesday, who made their money from cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
Mark Zuckerberg is one of the wealthiest people in the world.
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, is presumed to be the largest holder of the currency, in possession of 1.1 million BTC (around $30 billion). While nobody knows for certain how much Satoshi holds, research suggests that he acquired this amount as a reward for mining 22,000 blocks.
The largest holder of Bitcoin is believed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous founder of Bitcoin. Nakamoto is estimated to own approximately 1,000,000 BTC, worth around $27.13 billion.
The Winklevoss twins received some $65 million in cash and Facebook stock in the 2008 settlement over the creation of the social media giant.
They sued in 2004, and after a legal battle that lasted four years, eventually settled with the Meta CEO for $65 million in mediation.
Originally launched to select college campuses, the site expanded rapidly and eventually beyond colleges, reaching one billion users in 2012. Zuckerberg took the company public in May 2012 with majority shares. In 2007, at age 23, he became the world's youngest self-made billionaire.
Bitcoin's stratospheric rise since 2009 has created a surprising and diverse set of millionaires (and billionaires).
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, both prominent bitcoin touts who founded the crypto marketplace Gemini, have lost about 40% of their respective fortunes, or more than $2 billion each.
The twins took a $65 million settlement from that spat, invested some in bitcoin, launched a cryptocurrency exchange and even went on tour as a musical duo covering songs by the likes of Blink-182.
Mark Zuckerberg's fortune plunged by $11 billion after his Meta Platforms Inc. reported a second-straight quarter of disappointing earnings, bringing his total wealth loss to more than $100 billion in just 13 months.
The four crypto billionaire deaths within a month gave fuel to several conspiracy theories among the crypto community. One user associated the string of deaths with a mafia-style hit job and said that the “crypto world is taking a page from the mafia handbook.”
However, some estimates can be made based on blockchain data and surveys of Bitcoin holders. According to data from Bitinfocharts, as of March 2023, there are approximately 827,000 addresses that hold 1 bitcoin or more, representing around 4.5% of all addresses on the Bitcoin network.
Tesla announced in an SEC filing Monday that it has bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. The company also said it would start accepting bitcoin as a payment method for its products. CEO Elon Musk has been credited for raising the prices of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, through his messages on Twitter.
The maximum number of bitcoins that can ever exist is 21 million, and as of March 2023, over 19 million bitcoins have already been mined. This means that there are only around 2 million bitcoins left to be mined, and once that limit is reached, no more bitcoins will be created.
The majority shareholder at Facebook is Mark Zuckerberg, the founder, and CEO of the company.
Meta Platforms (META), the company that owns Facebook, primarily makes money by selling advertising space on its various social media platforms. Those platforms include websites and mobile applications that give users the ability to connect and communicate with family and friends.
Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook is the world's largest social networking service.