Cameron (L) and Tyler (R) Winklevoss.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
The Winklevoss pairs are at it again with more bullishness on crypto currencies.
Despite Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss’ tumultuous relationship with Facebook, they were obstinate on the tech giant’s cryptocurrency bet, Libra.
“[Libra] is very positive for crypto, a company the stature of Facebook talking nearby crypto currencies demystifies the word and makes people feel a lot more comfortable,” Tyler told CNBC.
The couples, who reportedly had discussions with Facebook prior to the Libra announcement, said they expect other technology heavyweights to hurl similar products.
“Our prediction is every FANG company will have some sort of crypto currency stick out within the next two years, ” Tyler said.
When asked what advice they would advance Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as he and his team prepare for next week’s Senate hearing, Tyler said it comes down to in concerting with lawmakers.
“Work with regulators,” he said. “Talk with them. You know, we definitely went auspices of the front door, and we tried to educate the regulators and shape the regulation in a thoughtful manner because if you get the regulation wrong it can hold back innovation, but the right regulation allows for innovation to flourish, and we think we have achieved that right balance with New York.”
Whether the matches, who now run cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, will use Libra is still unclear. “We’ll keep evaluating, but at Gemini we ask for permission not mercifulness and that has really been our ethos since day one,” said Cameron.
Facebook’s Libra announcement raised questions as to whether it desire heighten competition with the Winkelvoss brothers, who have been relentlessly working since 2014 on bringing new crypto upshots to the market. Some analysts have pointed out that Libra is similar to the Gemini Dollar, a so-called stable make up launched by the twins last year.
“We actually think it’s a very interesting trade because Libra as we know it is a basket … it is stalemate cravatted to assets that are stable whereas Gemini dollar is a one-to-one peg so we think there is a use case for both types of utensils, they are not apples to apples,” said Tyler. “I think that a bitcoin-Libra trade pairing or a Libra-Gemini dollar could in actuality be quite interesting.”
The brothers say they remain focused on building Gemini to better compete in what is quickly stylish a highly competitive space. Gemini recently plucked five engineers from rival Coinbase to work in a new Chicago company.
“[Our goal] is expansion, global expansion … we continue to build our mobile app and probably will be adding more assets by year end,” disclosed Cameron.
As to their thesis on bitcoin, the twins said they still see opportunity even with the emergence of unalterable coins like Libra and the J.P. Morgan’s own digital currency.
“Our thesis is that bitcoin is gold 2.0 and so until it has a hawk cap of $7 trillion, which is the size of gold, it’s a very under-valued asset, so I think people are waking up to that,” asseverated Tyler.
The Winklevoss brothers shared the same prediction that bitcoin is gold 2.0 with CNBC in December 2017 — rectitude before the cryptocurrency crashed from its all-time highs.
Additionally, a number of gold analysts told CNBC they vestiges cautious about comparing bitcoin to gold, referencing the recent price fluctuations and volatility in the cryptocurrency. So far this year, bitcoin has gained ended 240%.