- Bitcoin Billionaires book to be made into a film
- Film will be a sequel to The Social Network and will focus on the exploits of the Winklevoss twins
- Bitcoin set for positive exposure to a mass audience
Bitcoin Billionaires, the sequel to the book that spawned the hit movie The Social Network, is also to hit the big screen, with the Winklevoss twins helping fund the project – mainly because it’s about them. The book, which charts the lives of the Gemini founders’ post-Facebook life, was published last year to favourable reviews, and it is hoped that success on the box office could help raise the profile of Bitcoin to a mass audience.
From Facebook to Bitcoin Billionaires
The Winklevoss twins famously sued Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg in 2008 after they accused him of stealing some code they had created for their own site, ConnectU, accepting a cash and stock deal in 2011. The Social Network came out the year prior, and Bitcoin Billionaires will take off after the closure of the case, a time that saw the pair experience great difficulty in getting their venture capitalist firm off the ground due to companies not wanting to be seen getting into business with an enemy of Facebook.
The Winklevoss’ claim that a chance encounter in 2013 with a “shady” character on the island of Ibiza introduced them to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. After falling down the crypto currency rabbit hole, the twins decided that the new cryptocurrency movement was “either the next big thing or total bullshit.”
They poured $11 million of the Facebook settlement money into Bitcoin shortly after, setting up the Gemini exchange in 2014 as well as helping to raise millions for Charlie Shrem’s now defunct BitInstant project. The twins reaped the rewards of their Bitcoin bet when their investment hit $1.83 billion in 2017, making them the first crypto billionaires.
Bitcoin to Get a Fair Crack of the Whip
Bitcoin fans will be hoping that the film does a good job of explaining the premise behind the cryptocurrency and the movement in general and that it addresses some of the falsehoods put about by various mainstream media outlets in the past decade and more. With the Winklevoss twins set to play an active part in the production of Bitcoin Billionaires this is more or less guaranteed, leading to hope that a new generation of potential investors will be exposed to the principles and benefits of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general.
