Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss
Co-Founders of Gemini.com, Principals of Winklevoss Capital & Olympians
Discussion
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Tyler Winklevoss
@tylerwinklevoss · Winklevoss Capital
Hi There! I'm Tyler Winklevoss, one half of the Winklevoss twins. I'm an entrepreneur, angel investor and Olympian. A year and a half ago, I founded Gemini with my brother Cameron, which is a U.S. based licensed bitcoin exchange. For anyone interested in learning more about Gemini and hearing our overall thoughts on bitcoin and the future of money, check out this ProductHunt AMA!
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Lejla Bajgoric
@lejlahunts · Intern, Product Hunt
Hi there! Fun question: best and worst part of being a twin brother?
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Cameron Winklevoss
@winklevoss
@lejlahunts geee...I can't think of too many downsides! Since I can remember when we are together in public we almost always inevitably get asked "Are you guys twins?!" To which we answer, "yes". This question is then followed by "who's older?" To which we answer "we don't know! (Caesarian)". The final question is, "you must get asked that a lot?" And as you can imagine my reply is "nope, this is the fist time!" I could see how this could be annoying for some people, but I don't mind it, it's just part of the gig ;-)
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
@winklevoss @lejlahunts My best friends (@leonlacs + his brothers) are identical triplets. At UF alone, they're nearly as famous as @tylerwinklevoss and you (their fame gets cubed, obviously). It took ~2 years for them to really nail the Triplet-isms, but they've got some excellent ones that have helped them overcome their painful individual awkwardness.
Melissa Joy Kong
@melissajoykong · Content, Product Hunt
What 3 moments do you consider major turning/inflection points in your life that have most come to define who you are today—and what meaning do you assign them in hindsight?
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Cameron Winklevoss
@winklevoss
@melissajoykong 1) First time we walked into a boathouse (learning to row), 2) starting our first company (ConnectU) 3) finding Bitcoin on a beach in Ibiza...
Jonny Miller
@jonnym1ller · Cofounder @Maptia
Hi Tyler – you said that "if Bitcoin is a better gold or seen as a type of gold-like asset, then it could be in the trillions on a market cap"... what in your mind is the biggest threat or hurdle from where we are today to this scenario? (or is it inevitable?)
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Tyler Winklevoss
@tylerwinklevoss · Winklevoss Capital
@jonnym1ller I think bitcoin disrupting gold is inevitable. Precious metals like gold aren't all that precious when you look at the larger picture. As soon as there is reliable and cheap access to space, which I believe is something that is not that far away, perhaps the next two decades, asteroids will be able to be mined and harvested for all of the chemical elements that we consider 'rare' or 'scarce', on earth, but which in fact are entirely plentiful in our solar system. Gold currently benefits and from an "access to space" problem and a ~10,000 year first-mover advantage. The first advantage will be erased in the next ~25yrs w/ cheap space travel and the second will be erased faster than we know it because technology is speeding up and exponentially augmenting adoption curves. In addition, gold is in fact inferior to bitcoin when you take into account the characteristics of money (i.e, scarcity, durability, portability, etc., ), bitcoin is actually fixed at 21MM, gold as we know is not, not even on earth.
I think the competition between gold and bitcoin to be the best, stateless, trustless store of value is really bitcoin's to lose. The obvious reasons for what could go wrong for bitcoin are one's you probably already know, such as mining becoming too centralized, 51% attack, draconian regulation, etc.. Anything that threatens the very value and utility that Bitcoin brings to the table.
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Cameron Winklevoss
@winklevoss
@tylerwinklevoss @jonnym1ller to further add, precious metals on earth are a result of asteroids pounding the planet. In the future, we will mine asteroids in space.
Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
Hey Tyler + Cameron!
What are some of the biggest misconceptions people have around bitcoin and a bitcoin exchange more broadly?
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Cameron Winklevoss
@winklevoss
@eriktorenberg Perhaps the biggest misconception about Bitcoin is that it is "anonymous". Bitcoin is in fact pseudonymous and the blockchain is a public decentralized ledger whereby you can ascertain the provenance and entire genealogy of every bitcoin in existence. In other words, each bitcoin has a public audit trail -- like a trail of breadcrumbs -- that you anyone can see.
What's surprising is how pervasive this misinformation is. Will O'Brien, a Co-Founder of BitGo (a company that builds a multi-sig wallet for bitcoin) just yesterday attended a discussion at the Commonwealth Club in SF where former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke stated "its [Bitcoin] very goal is to be anonymous". This couldn't be further from the case, in fact, if anything people are worried that Bitcoin is so transparent that this will be a hurdle to larger institutional adoption.
Harry Stebbings
@harrystebbings · Podcast Host @ The Twenty Minute VC
Huge fans of yours remember watching you in the Olympics! My question: What is the biggest barrier to mass bitcoin adoption? How far off do you think that will be? Had Bitcoin specialist @AdamDraper @boostvc on @twentyminutevc the other day, so would be amazing to compare your answers! Likewise, would be an honour to have you on the podcast, give me a shout if you are interested!
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Tyler Winklevoss
@tylerwinklevoss · Winklevoss Capital
@harrystebbings Great question. Our thesis with Gemini was the biggest thing holding Bitcoin back, at least in the US, was a lack of regulated and licensed onramps and gateways into the ecosystem. Institutional players simply can't or won't do business with an unlicensed offshore exchange. As a result, the deepest pockets are sitting out on the sidelines. We took great lengths to make sure Gemini was licensed, compliant, and built in a way where institutions and other market participants would feel comfortable doing business with us. Right now Bitcoin is an island. If it is going to grow, then we need licensed and regulated bridges to the financial mainland. We think Gemini is one of those bridges that can successfully connect the old world of money to the new world of money.
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
Which product/company that Winkelvoss Capital is invested in do you wish everyone on Product Hunt knew about?
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Tyler Winklevoss
@tylerwinklevoss · Winklevoss Capital
@andrewmettinger Bitcoin!! Lol. Everyone who uses Shyp and Minibar falls in love with them. Luxe (valet) is another great company and experience that is starting to pick up a lot of momentum and Memebox, an Asian beauty products e-commerce platform is definitely a sleeper. We are invested in a lot of cool companies, most of them are here on our portfolio page: https://winklevosscapital.com/po... Let us know which ones stick out to you!
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
@tylerwinklevoss
-Just bought my first pair of "Me Undies" boxer briefs recently - love them.
-I used Shyp when living in Miami and definitely will again when I graduate (and move to a city).
-Loyal to Klink for my liquor delivery, but have heard good things about Minibar (will try it if out of Klink's range).
-Can't wait for one of my friends to get Lily. Have you tried it out yet?
-We use Vero @ building.co (home of Ironhack) and it's wonderful.
Welp...can't argue with that portfolio - user of a nice chunk of the companies. Thanks for stopping by, fellas.
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Tyler Winklevoss
@tylerwinklevoss · Winklevoss Capital
@andrewmettinger Awesome, great to hear you feel the same way about our portfolio as we do!
-All of my basics are MeUndies, I found them to be the best quality and best price, total no-brainer.
-Understood, hope you give MiniBar a try, I think you'll love it!
-Have not, but can't wait!
-Awesome, we have a Vero machine at Winklevoss Capital headquarters, I have one at my apartment and Cameron has one as his apartment as well!
Thanks or all of your questions!
@tylerwinklevoss hey Cameron and Tyler! When you look at the Bitcoin space today, where do you see the primary use case being in the US? For example, would a Coinbase turn more into a bank, go towards retailers (where in the US the current system can be the default for a while)
Earteza Auvee
@earteza · Team Member @Foundedx
@winklevoss and @tylerwinklevoss hi guys , Do you have any plan for Bangladeshi Startups ? did you invested or work with South Asian Startups ?
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Cameron Winklevoss
@winklevoss
@earteza no, not currently -- what's the scene like out there?
Earteza Auvee
@earteza · Team Member @Foundedx
@winklevoss @earteza it is growing very fast ! like lots of silicon valley and Japanese VC are coming and investing many startups . If you want to know more updates let me know , i will send updates !
Leon Lacs
@leonlacs · Student at the University of Florida
@winklevoss @tylerwinklevoss what are your favorite books?
Kamal Ravikant
@kamalravikant · Partner, Evolve VC
@leonlacs Great question. I'd like to hear the answer to this too.
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Cameron Winklevoss
@winklevoss
@leonlacs currently reading "The Martian", "Transatlantic" and just finished "Flash Boys". I am a pretty big Sci-Fi fan so love the classics: "Dune", "Foundation" series, anything Neal Stephenson (e.g. "The Baroque Cycle", "Cryptonomicon", The "Diamond Age", etc.)
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
@winklevoss @leonlacs But did you like "Dune" - the movie?
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Cameron Winklevoss
@winklevoss
@andrewmettinger @leonlacs I thought it was really bad :-/ I don't think it's David Lynch's wheelhouse or that his heart was really in it, and the project sounded like it had a lot of false starts -- then again, its so bad I kind of like it. I hope one day someone does a successful remake or has the ambition/courage to pull of Jodorowsky's Dune. W/ that said, if you haven't already seen it, you must watch the documentary "Jodorowsky's Dune"!