Bitcoin bloodbath: Winklevoss twins, whose bitcoin investment made them billionaires, back in the millionaire club

Twin brothers, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have had a chequered past. Most people recognise the American internet entrepreneurs as the twins who sued Mark Zuckerberg for stealing their idea to build Facebook. The trial resulted in a payout of $65 million for them.

As per the settlement, the brothers got $20 million in cash and $45 million of Facebook stock at a time when the company was valued at $15 billion.

The twins invested reportedly about $11 million in purchasing Bitcoins way back in 2012 – which they informed about in 2013 saying they own about 1% of all Bitcoins in circulation at that time.

At the time of reporting, Bitcoin was trading above $11,700. On paper this means the twins, who have also represented the US as rowers at the Beijing Olympics 2008, have lost about $443 million each.

Bitcoin’s fall has been driven by multiple steps taken by governments across the world to clamp down on the cryptocurrency.

Since January 6, 2018, Bitcoin has slumped nearly $100bn leading to huge losses for investors in the cryptocurrency.