Billionaire Winklevoss Twins Donate $2 Million in Bitcoin to Support Donald Trump

Top line

Cryptocurrency billionaires the Winklevoss twins announced Thursday that they are donating $1 million worth of bitcoins to support Donald Trump, the latest billionaires to back the former president, who is increasingly embracing cryptocurrencies in his 2024 campaign.

Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss have said they will vote for Donald Trump in November.

Key facts

In X’s post announcing his 15.47 BTC ($1 million) donation, Tyler Winklevoss said he would vote for Trump in November because he is “pro-Bitcoin, pro-crypto and the pro-business choice” and urged a “crypto army “. do the same.

In a lengthy post, the crypto billionaire attacked the Biden administration, saying it has “openly declared war on cryptocurrencies” and accused it of arming government agencies to “bully, harass and sue the good actors in our industry.”

Cameron Winklevoss also said he donated 15.47 BTC to Trump and said he would “end the Biden administration’s war on cryptocurrencies.”

Citing an unnamed spokesperson, CoinDesk said the donations will go to the Trump 47 Committee, a joint fundraising committee that can split the amount to comply with federal legal limits on campaign donations.

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Essential quote

“The Biden administration has consistently attacked American business and angered its biggest heroes. Crime is always success and the reward is always ridicule, fines and more red tape,” wrote Tyler Winklevoss in his post.

Key background

The Winklevoss twins and their Gemini cryptocurrency exchange have faced multiple lawsuits from investors and governments over the past few years in the wake of the collapse of their high-interest Gemini Earn 2022 program. As part of a settlement with the New York Department of Financial Services in February, Gemini agreed to return $1.1 billion to customers Earn program and paying a $37 million fine for non-compliance.

Forbes Award

According to our estimates, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have a net worth of $2.7 billion each, which places them both at number 1,242 on the real-time billionaires list.

Tangent

Trump and his campaign have been vocal about their pro-crypto and pro-Bitcoin stance in recent months. This is a complete reversal for the former president, who was skeptical of cryptocurrencies earlier during his tenure in the White House. In 2019, he said he was “not a fan” of bitcoin and other crypto-tokens that “aren’t money”. He then called these digital currencies “highly volatile” assets “based on air” and criticized them for facilitating “illegal behavior”. However, in the past few months, Trump has sought to garner support from the tech and crypto industries, presenting himself as a supporter of them. The former president’s campaign now accepts cryptocurrency donations and even claims that bitcoin miners help “stabilize the grid’s energy supply.” In a post on his platform Truth Social earlier this month, the former president said he wants all remaining bitcoins to be mined in the US, positioning the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency as the “last line of defense against” central bank digital currency (CBDC). ). Trump also attacked Biden’s “hatred of bitcoin,” saying his stance only helps “China, Russia and the radical communist left.”