Winklevoss Twins All Up In Bitcoin, Not Going Away

The Winklevoss twins have taken a break from suing Facebook for a brief moment to take some of the bucketloads of money they’ve gotten off the social network’s success and invest it … in Bitcoin.

Nicknamed the “Winklevii,” the somewhat unnerving, and always together former classmates of Mark Zuckerberg, Cameron and Tyler, have kind of annoyed the pants off the whole tech world with their constant suing.

But they’re back, again, this time described by The New York Times as “laying claim to a new title: bitcoin moguls.”

So what’s a Bitcoin anyway? Depending on who you ask, it’s either a major financial innovation or a crazy and dangerous experiment, but it’s commonly defined as a “decentralized digital currency based on an open-source, peer-to-peer Internet protocol.” So much like dollars, pesos, francs, and images of boobs, you can exchange Bitcoin for goods and services.

A Thursday spate of massive Bitcoin fluctuation brought the newfangled tech currency back into the news and, along with it, the Winklevoss twins. Cameron spoke to DealBook about the Bitcoin phenomenon — explaining that as with many digital transitions, Bitcoin is heading toward legitimacy.

And, he says, the Winklevii will be there to reap the benefits:

“People really don’t want to take it seriously. At some point that narrative will shift to ‘virtual currencies are here to stay.’ … We’re in the early days.”

So how much Bitcoin pull do Cameron and Tyler have? They estimate they control about one percent of all Bitcoin currency, to the tune of around 11 million imaginary dollars.

But will the Winklevoss twins finally find their legit tech fortune in Bitcoin? Alternative currency expert Steve Hanke weighed in, telling the paper that “[to] say highly speculative would be the understatement of the century” in regards to the new currency.

Verdict: Bitcoin could go either way, but we seems to be stuck with the Winklevoss twins.