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World's first Bitcoin billionaires got their initial fortune by suing Mark Zuckerberg for $65,000,000

Home> News> Tech News

Published 10:09 6 Mar 2025 GMT

World's first Bitcoin billionaires got their initial fortune by suing Mark Zuckerberg for $65,000,000

You might even have seen them on the silver screen

Harry Boulton

Harry Boulton

One pair of twins were among the first to put faith in the viability of Bitcoin, and while their investment has more than proven to be worth it in the grand scheme of things, it was all possible thanks to a young Mark Zuckerberg.

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (perhaps pluralized to Winklevii) are famous not only for their bold position within the world of cryptocurrency, but also playing a key role in David Fincher's The Social Network - a film all about the origins of Facebook.

Positioned as 'rivals' somewhat to Jesse Eisenberg's Mark Zuckerberg in the movie, the Winklevoss twins - both played by Armie Hammer - accuse the Facebook creator of stealing their idea, and it turns out that's exactly what happened in real life too.

The Winklevoss twins banked $65 million in Facebook stock following a lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg (Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Hauser & Wirth)
The Winklevoss twins banked $65 million in Facebook stock following a lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg (Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Hauser & Wirth)

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Having created ConnectU, known also as 'HarvardConnection', Cameron and Tyler claimed that Zuckerberg has stolen their idea and used it to create Facebook, breaking an oral contract that had been agreed between the three of them.

This led them to file a lawsuit against Zuckerberg, to which he responded with a countersuit of his own. Eventually things were settled, leaving them with around $65 million of Facebook stock as a form of compensation.

While you can make a lot of smart investments with $65,000,000 - many of which that can set you up for life - the Winklevoss twins decided to make a calculated risk that has more than paid off for them.

In March 2013 they decided to invest around $11,000,000 into Bitcoin, which was still in its relative infancy at the time, landing them with around 100,000 of the cryptocurrency at roughly $120 each.

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They were initially laughed at for their decision, with many believing it to be a waste of money on something that would never grow, but those doubters couldn't have been more wrong.

Cameron and Tyler have certainly got the last laugh here, as Bitcoin is by far the most valuable cryptocurrency on the market, and recently broke a milestone $100,000 value following Donald Trump's victory in the US election.

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss could have had over $9 billion if they'd held onto every coin (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss could have had over $9 billion if they'd held onto every coin (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Had they held onto every single one of the coins that they first bought they'd now have a shared fortune of $9,070,770,000, although current estimates indicate that they're still holding on to around $1.18 billion despite purchasing over a decade ago.

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They join the 'untraceable' Satoshi Nakamoto as the people with the biggest Bitcoin wallets in the world, and it must take some willpower not to sell it all as the price continues to grow.

Despite their significant fortunes they're still quite a way off of their rival Mark Zuckerberg, who is currently the second richest man on the planet with a net worth of around $226,000,000,000 according to the Bloomberg billionaires index.

I doubt they're that bothered though, as it was Zuckerberg himself that put them in the position they are today.

Featured Image Credit: Jeff Bottari / Contributor / Getty
Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook
Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin
Money

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