Winklevoss brothers are Bitcoin billionaires, world’s first

Internet entrepreneurs Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss have become the world’s first Bitcoin billionaires.

Meet Winklevoss brothers, the world’s first Bitcoin billionaires. (REUTERS)

Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss, the twin brothers who once sued Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly stealing their idea for Facebook, have reportedly become the world's first Bitcoin billionaires.

Their $11 million investment in Bitcoin four years ago has now become is now over $1 billion, thanks to the recent spike in valuation of Bitcoin which hit $10,000 mark in certain Asian markets last week, The Telegraph reported.

The brothers had set up a Bitcoin exchange in 2015 that was also touted as "NASDAQ of bitcoin." Next year, Gemini also became the world's first licensed ether exchange.

Similar to Bitcoin, Ether is a digital currency that essentially runs on Ethereum blockchain. At one point, Ether was considered as natural successor to Bitcoin. In June 2016, the Winklevoss twins announced expanding their cryptocurrency exchange to the UK.

"We see Bitcoin as potentially the greatest social network of all," Tyler Winklevoss told Financial Times in 2016.

The brothers then described Bitcoin as a missing link in the digital economy and claimed the cryptocurrency would revolutionise the way transactions happen globally.

Speaking about their Gemini exchange, Tyler had said, "We wanted to build an exchange that was similar to Nasdaq or NYSE for digital currency. We wanted something that both Wall Street and Main Street felt comfortable with."

Winklevoss brothers' return to limelight comes amid growing excitement as well as skepticism over Bitcoin.

While many experts have dubbed Bitcoin's growth as a bubble, the ever-increasing valuation has been welcomed by many.

One of the major concerns about Bitcoin has been the security. Back in 2014, Tokyo-based Bitcoin exchange MtGox, also the biggest at the time, collapsed after 850,000 coins worth around $480 million at the time were stolen.