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The Winklevoss Twins Are Now Bitcoin Billionaires (theverge.com)

Posted by msmash on from the change-of-fortune dept.

The twin brothers who gained notoriety for suing Mark Zuckerberg over the claim that they started Facebook have done remarkably well in the wake of Bitcoin's record gains. From a report: Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss won $65 million from the Facebook lawsuit, and invested $11 million of their payout into Bitcoin in 2013, amassing one of the largest portfolios of Bitcoin in the world -- 1 percent of the entire currency's dollar value equivalent, said the twins at the time. Their slice of the Bitcoin pie is now worth over $1 billion after Bitcoin surged past $10,000 last week to now trade at $11,100, according to CoinDesk. The cryptocurrency has surged over 10,000 percent since the Winklevoss' investment, when one coin traded at around $120.

10 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Try selling that off. I guarantee they won't get anywhere close to $1 billion, as the price drops while selling.

    1. Re:LOL by Megol · · Score: 4, Interesting

      That the value of bitcoins will reduce drastically if they try to cash out. And I'll add that the exchanges doesn't have to $$$ to give.

  2. Re:Maybe worth a virtual billion dollars by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So I guess the stock market isn't real either.

    You can't take that much money out of a bank in one go either. I guess banks aren't real.

  3. I hope they didn't put it in Mt. Gox by poached · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because you know, that would be sad.

  4. Re:Maybe worth a virtual billion dollars by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Correct. Until you sell your stock investment you haven't made any money at all. That is why you are taxed on sale.

  5. Slashdot by gatfirls · · Score: 4, Funny

    ..The premier news source for bitcoin.

  6. Reality of All Billionaires by sycodon · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is the same reality faced by Bill Gates, Bezos, Musk, Buffet, etc.

    Billionaires don't have a billion dollars. In fact their actual income is quite modest compared to what you think when you say, "Billionaire". Wealth doesn't mean cash in your bank account.

    To be sure, they have NO financial hardship, even if they spend like idiots. But they don't "have" a billion dollars in cash.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    1. Re:Reality of All Billionaires by sycodon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Even with a hostile take over, most of the consideration is in the form of shares.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    2. Re:Reality of All Billionaires by mindstormpt · · Score: 3, Informative

      Slashdot: Jeff Bezos Just Sold $1.1 Billion in Amazon Stock

      You're funny.

  7. Satoshi Nakamoto Did it First by DanielRavenNest · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Whoever he/she/they are, they have an estimated 800K bitcoins, from being the first miner, in the days it was easy. We know those coins have never moved since being mined, because the blockchain tracks every transaction. So they would have become a billionaire for the first time, when the price peaked in Nov, 2013, then again in Mar and Apr of 2017 when it crossed $1250/BTC.

    It is always possible those early coins are lost, or the private keys intentionally destroyed. It is also possible Nakamoto is waiting until they can buy HSBC, just because they can. The message in the Genesis Block (the first one in the blockchain) is "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks", so they are not a fan of banks.