By Alec Hogg
The impression I got after watching the biopic about the creation of Facebook was that Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard classmates, the identical Winklevoss twins, were little more than elitist twits. They were cast as chancers who falsely accused Zuck of stealing their idea.
There is another side to that myth. For one thing, the 6 foot 5 inch US Olympic rowers are hardly buffoons – their father is an actuarial science professor at Wharton and after Harvard, the duo progressed to Oxford for their MBAs. For another, they got a legal settlement of $65m from Zuckerberg, suggesting their claim wasn’t exactly groundless.
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More interesting still is the sequel where Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, now 35, are now leaders in the Bitcoin revolution which threatens to change the world of money. With a bit of luck, after tomorrow they will be remembered not only for the Facebook saga, but also as the fellows who took cyber currency mainstream.
The twins, who finished 6th in the final of Beijing 2008 coxless pairs (SA’s Keeling and Di Clemente were 5th) have spent almost three years waiting on the US’s Securities Exchange Commission. Back in July 2013 they applied to launch the world’s first Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund. Tomorrow is the SEC’s deadline to approve or reject the application.
The price of Bitcoin has surged in anticipation of a positive outcome, even though financial pundits in the media rate the chances of a Winklevoss success at just 25%. The most likely result, these experts opine, is the SEC will send the application back for further rejigging.
Perhaps. But that would be little more than temporary respite for vested interests trying to hold back the digital currency tide. A blockchain technology wave that will disrupt the likes of banks, lawyers and other financial and regulatory intermediaries like the Internet did for industries like newspapers and travel agents.
Bitcoin has been around for eight years and its global fan club numbers tens of thousands just like the forward-looking Winklevoss’s. Based on its own blockchain, the virtual currency was created in the wake of the Global Finance Crisis 2008 by computer programmers seeking an alternative to the US Dollar, Euro and Yen.
With the cyber currency capped at a ceiling of 21m Bitcoins, its supporters see it playing the role of a new gold standard. And like the yellow metal, the first to financial markets with a retail product stands to reap a handsome reward – the SPRD Gold ETF, launched in 2004, has an asset base of $31bn, four times the size of iShares that was launched next.
What to do about it? There has been lots of heat in the Bitcoin market in the approach to the SEC decision, so best to wait for the price to settle as certainty arrives. But whatever happens tomorrow, Bitcoin has weathered enough storms to suggest it’s here to stay. The global mobility and resilience of this cyber currency also makes it a very useful option for those living in politically volatile geographies. South Africa included.
