The famous Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron, are on a mission to continue on with innovations and reach into the future. Tyler has been quoted saying they have the “desire to build beyond what we have inherited and push beyond our own preconceived barriers”, as those qualities and actions are “responsible for every human breakthrough and advancement since the dawn of mankind.” In this very inspiring and well versed quote, Tyler is referring to their purchase of two golden tickets to space on the Virgin Galactic Tour, using Bitcoin.
If you have been living under a rock and haven’t heard of this new phenomenon, Bitcoin is digital currency that has recently taken off and become a popular form of payment. The Winklevoss twins are most known for being cheated by Zuckerberg out of their rights of Facebook. In the settlement, Tyler and Cameron earned a grand total of 65 million dollars. Earning this much money did not stop the men to continue work in innovation.
They are well known as venture capitalists, and most recently for being some of the largest Bitcoin holders. Furthermore, they are soon to launch a publicly traded Bitcoin fund.
So why the big space trip? The Winklevoss twins believe that Bitcoin and Space Tourism are “technologies that meaningfully represent” their “focus at Winklevoss Capital – the reduction of pain points and friction in an effort to build a better world.” How so? Tyler states that their tickets, “seed capital supporting a new technology that may forever change the way we travel, purchased with a new technology that may forever change the way we transact.” These two prominent figures seem to have a lot of faith in Bitcoin! Perhaps there is some promise in this currency. At this time, one Bitcoin amounts to $660. The brothers paid 757.5 bitcoins for their space tickets (meaning $250,000)!
Branson's Virgin Galactic Tour is this amazing new, revolutionary technology that has been proven through testing. In their last test flight in January, the space craft got up to 71,000 ft! The spaceships look much like airplanes as opposed to the typical look of a space or rocket ship. I’m thinking, maybe Tyler and Cameron are onto something here. Space tourism and Bitcoins; it all sounds a little far-fetched…but we are seeing it all unfold before our eyes.
I wonder how they plan to stay charged on their spacation. Who knows – maybe they will be toting a convenient little Juno Power battery. After all, they are all about innovation!
Ruza Radich
Author