Winklevoss twins to open Gemini Bitcoin Exchange in London
22 Jun 2016
With the price of bitcoin experiencing a resurgence, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are looking to expand their presence in the market by bringing their Gemini bitcoin exchange from New York to London.
The twins, who had sued Mark Zuckerberg claiming he stole their concept of Facebook, and settled for $65 million in 2008, had become some of the most vocal supporters of cryptocurrencies. The duo set up the Gemini exchange in New York last October and were now opening up for business on the other side of the Atlantic.
''We know there's been a lot of demand for our services in the UK, we know there's a strong desire, New York and London are financial capitals of the world and speak the same language,'' Tyler Winklevoss told The Telegraph.
Trading on the exchange, which opens Tuesday, would start with only ether, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency, but dollar and sterling trades would arrive over coming months.
Ether was currently worth only a fraction of a bitcoin with one ether trading for less than $12, but the currency, according to many, could emerge as a challenger to bitcoin because the ethereum blockchain on which ether is built can allow for ''smart contracts'' - essentially computer programs that executed themselves when certain conditions are met.
The twins' interest in bitcoin began in 2012, and Cameron explained in a blog post that the power of the technology was immediately obvious.
"People laughed, as they always do, when something is awesome, powerful and new, but that only helped to fuel our fire," he said.
The brothers had since invested in bitcoin and bitcoin-related companies and filed an S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US to create the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust.
The Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust is an exchange traded fund aimed at bringing bitcoin investment exposure to main investors. They also launched a bitcoin price index called WinkDex to price the fund.