The Winklevoss twins are betting big on bitcoin.
The duo — who infamously won a multimillion dollar settlement from Facebook following claims Mark Zuckerberg had ripped off their idea — says that bitcoin could very well become bigger than Facebook, says The Guardian.
Facebook, of course, is the world’s largest social network — with a user base exceeding one billion.
The two came to learn about bitcoin whilst on holiday in Ibiza, saying they were “fascinated from day one.”
And while bitcoin’s $5.67 billion market cap doesn’t come close to touching Facebook’s $150 billion cap, the Winklevosses put their faith in the digital currency for the reason that it has more potential to be more impactful than a social network.
“Bitcoin potentially could be more impactful because being able to donate 50 cents to someone across the world has more impact than potentially sharing a picture,” said Tyler Winklevoss.
“But they’re very different. Facebook is like the internet – a large company and an application. Bitcoin is a protocol for decentralisation, so you could build a decentralised company on top of it, a stock market. It’s an internet of ownership, so it’s not quite a direct comparison.”
For critics who point to bitcoin’s volatility as a reason it can never be widely successful, the twins say that’s basically a non-statement.
“Unregulated assets with unclear regulatory landscapes are always going to be volatile. That’s what unregulated assets do,” said Tyler, who points to the early days of the Internet as an example of a technology that can go from an enthusiast’s interest to a worldwide phenomenon.
The twins, who are working on the own bitcoin ETF (and also recently launched a price index) predict that this is the year Wall Street becomes heavily involved in the bitcoin-o-sphere.
Already, we’re seeing incredibly amounts of investor interest, especially in the wake of two major price spikes that eventually brought the price of bitcoin above $1,000 late last year.
The Winklevosses are estimated to own one percent of bitcoins presently in circulation.
[textmarker color=”C24000″]Source[/textmarker] The Guardian
