The Winklevoss brothers call themselves the real creators of Facebook
The Winklevoss brothers never leave the pages of the American press, and billionaire-paid advertisements can be seen in downtown Washington. The Cameron and Tyler twins are considered to be almost the most risky businessmen in America, who made money on (seemingly) completely impossible things.
It is sometimes written that the first fortune came to the twins when they made Mark Zuckerberg pay. But that’s not entirely true. The funds came to the brothers for winning sports competitions.
The twins Cameron and Tyler, born on August 21, 1981, have everything in common: mentions in the social calendar, businesses and even a Wikipedia page. Cameron and Tyler complement each other – one is right-handed and the other is left-handed. From the age of 6, the brothers played the piano two-handed.Then began rowing, participating and winning children’s and youth championships.
Since 2000, the Winklevoss brothers have studied at Harvard. There, the twins, together with a classmate, decided to create a closed social network for students. They turned to the most technically advanced student, Mark Zuckerberg, to develop it. He carefully read the terms of reference as well as fragments of code. Afterwards, he disappeared for several months, and later showed the university his creation, TheFacebook. The brothers accused Zuckerberg of stealing intellectual property.
As a result of a long legal battle, the twins received a $65 million payoff from Zuckerberg. At the same time, the Winklevoss brothers had Facebook stock in their portfolio, which began to grow and provided a steady income.
The Winklevoss Brothers and cryptocurrency history
Since 2013, 1% of all bitcoins in the world are owned by twins. Between 2013 and 2017, the fortune of the billionaires increased tenfold. Since then, Cameron and Tyler have been called cryptocurrency evangelists, who devote all their time to legalizing digital assets. It is the twins’ understanding that bitcoins should be listed on the New York Stock Exchange as securities.
In the summer of 2018, it was revealed that the brothers were also investing in politics for personal gain. Specifically, in April, the twins donated $100,000 to the campaign of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Later, in June, they added another 30,000. The public reacted to such a gesture with understanding – the brothers’ activities are always on the brink of breaking the rules: there is nothing to expect angelic behavior from people who have managed to make money from Zuckerberg.
In 2018, the twins’ fortune was estimated at $1.17 billion.
