Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss (LR), co-founders of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, on stage at the 2021 Bitcoin Conference in Miami, Florida.
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Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the billionaire twins best known for suing Mark Zuckerberg for stealing their idea for Facebook, are investing millions of dollars in a small English soccer club.
The twins, who today run the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, announced on Friday that they had invested $4.5 million worth of bitcoin in Real Bedford Football Club (RBFC), making it “the first football club backed by bitcoin,” according to a statement on Friday.
RBFC, a semi-professional non-league club from Bedford, England, was purchased in 2022 by Bitcoin investor and podcaster Peter McCormack. The latest deal will see the Winklevoss twins act as co-owners of RBFC, alongside McCormack, a lifelong Bedford resident.
“There was a value alignment with us all being early adopters of Bitcoin,” Cameron Winklevoss told CNBC, explaining his decision to co-own the RBFC with McCormack. “Getting started early with Bitcoin is the ultimate litmus test. What it shows is that you have to have a vision, you have to have conviction, and you have to be persistent.”
“You have to maintain it through the good times and the bad,” he added. “Any journey like this will be a bumpy road. There will be setbacks and hardships.”
Big plans
McCormack said he chose the Winklevoss Twins because he wanted a partner or partners who could help him invest in infrastructure to expand the club. He plans to use part of the investment to secure funding to build a new training centre, which he expects to cost around £1.6 million ($2 million).
However, he does not plan to sell any of his bitcoins to do so. Instead, Bitcoin will be a “rainy day” fund.
“The smart move is to hold the bitcoin, borrow pounds to pay for it, and then the training center pays for itself over seven years because it's also part of the club that brings in the money,” McCormack said.
The Winklevoss twins were not the first American celebrities to pump money into little-known football clubs in the UK. Actors Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds bought minor Welsh football club Wrexham AFC for £2 million ($2.5 million) in February 2021.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the phrase “acid test.” It has been updated since then.
