Cameron Winklevoss, one half of the notorious twin brothers who once battled Mark Zuckerberg over the origin of Facebook, took to Reddit to host an AMA this weekend to discuss the duo’s big interest: Bitcoin.
The Winklevoss twins were early Bitcoin advocates but have never revealed their total holding — though it was said to be worth $11 million in April, when the crypto-currency peaked at $266. Given today’s price ($875 average on Mt. Gox, at the timing of writing) and Cameron’s admission that he is yet to sell a single Bitcoin, it could now be worth as much as $35 million.
The twins are in the process of setting up the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust, a listed fund to manage their Bitcoin wealth and bring greater legitimacy to the virtual currency. Papers for the initial public offering were filed in July, but the final decision is still pending. Due to regulations, Cameron was unable to discuss the trust in the AMA.
The brothers are unsurprisingly bullish on Bitcoin. Cameron’s conservative bet is that its US dollar valuation will surpass $40,000 per coin — a potentially colossal figure — as he explained in a response to one Reddit user:
small bull case scenario for Bitcoin is a 400 billion USD dollar market cap, so 40,000 USD a coin, but I believe it could be much larger. When this will happen, if it happens, I don’t know, but if it happens, it will probably happen much faster than anyone imagines.
In another answer, Cameron played down the significance of the closure of The Silk Road — the underground market place for illicit goods that many saw as a key outlet for Bitcoin — instead arguing it is positive for the virtual currency:
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The Silk Road closure, and resulting price gains demonstrate how the demand for BTC has little to do with illicit transactions. If anything, Silk Road was holding Bitcoin back by disproportionately dominating its narrative in a negative way.
It is estimated that the volume of bitcoin transacted on Silk Road only represented ~4% of the total volume of bitcoins transacted on the Block chain over the same period of time.
Bitcoin’s growth has seen interest in other alternate currencies — such as Litecoin and Quarkcoin — but Cameron says he and his brother have no interest in anything other than Bitcoin:
Do you see BTC ‘replacing’ currencies we have today, or being used alongside them?
Have you invested in any altcoins, if so, which and why?
I view BTC more as an alternative to fiat currencies than a replacement.
I have not invested in any altcoins because I don’t believe that any of the “problems” or issues that they address can’t be addressed by Bitcoin itself.
You can see the full range of answers — which include mentions of rowing (the brothers represented the US at the Olympic Games) and the Simpsons — at the thread here.
Given their background and early adoption of Bitcoin, the twins’ opinions and predictions for the future are interesting. They have both predicted that there will be some form of regulation for the currency in the future. They see it as an ‘answer’ to many fiscal problems and are keen to help take it more mainstream.
Headline image via Zack Copley / Flickr
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