Even today, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss—the Winklevoss twins—are perhaps most known in the general public for the depiction of the brothers in 2010’s The Social Network, in which the twins were portrayed by a rowing, WASPy Armie Hammer.
But since suing Facebook in 2004 (and again in 2011), the twins have participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics and pivoted from social media to cryptocurrency.
In 2014, the Winklevosses founded Gemini, not to be confused with the Google AI model, but rather a cryptocurrency exchange and custodian bank.
Gemini was the first Ethereum exchange based in the United States to receive regulatory approval in 2016.
In recent years, however, the company has faced some legal troubles, beginning in 2022, following the fall of FTX, when the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Gemini, alleging that the exchange had misrepresented contracts in 2017.
Then, in 2023, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Gemini, along with other cryptocurrency firms, for “defrauding” investors.
“Hardworking New Yorkers and investors around the country lost more than a billion dollars because they were fed blatant lies that their money would be safe and grow if they invested it in Gemini Earn,” stated James’ lawsuit, according to South China Morning Post.
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And these legal issues, according to the twins, are exactly why they are throwing their support—and money—behind the Trump campaign.
The twins have donated $1 million in Bitcoin (15.47 BTC) each.
“Over the past few years, the Biden Administration has openly declared war against crypto,” states Tyler Winklevoss in a post on X.
“It has weaponized multiple government agencies to bully, harass, and sue the good actors in our industry in an effort to destroy it. This Administration's actions have been nothing short of an unprecedented abuse of power wielded entirely for twisted political gain at the complete expense of innovation, the American taxpayer, and the American economy.”
On June 14, 2024, Attorney General James’s claims against Gemini were resolved, when roughly $50 million was recovered from Gemini Trust Company, LLC for more than 230,000 investors, and Gemini was further banned from operating any cryptocurrency lending program in New York.
