{"id":357576,"date":"2021-10-24T00:15:48","date_gmt":"2021-10-23T21:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/winklevoss-twins-are-tangled-up-in-nft-scandal\/"},"modified":"2021-10-24T00:15:48","modified_gmt":"2021-10-23T21:15:48","slug":"winklevoss-twins-are-tangled-up-in-nft-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/winklevoss-twins-are-tangled-up-in-nft-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"#Winklevoss twins are tangled up in NFT scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#Winklevoss twins are tangled up in NFT scandal<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n        <\/aside>\n<p>Although you\u2019d never know it by looking at the str<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ing, Harvard educated, billionaire Winklevoss twins, the former Olympic rowers view themselves as underdogs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey always saw themselves fighting to prove something,\u201d Ben Mezrich, who spent a year hanging out with the so-called Winklevii for his book \u201cBitcoin Billionaires,\u201d told The Post. \u201cThey never viewed themselves as privileged. They have always been underestimated [in tech] because they are jocks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But no one should underestimate Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss\u2019 ahead-of-the-curve instinct.<\/p>\n<p>The twins were on the ground floor of <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>\u2019s creation before, they allege, Mark Zuckerberg used their idea to start a competing social network. Their Gemini Cryptocurrency Exchange, founded in 2015, is one of the largest marketplaces for crypto, and the Winklevosses are two of the first Bitcoin billionaires. They now stand at the forefront of the NFT movement, with their Nifty Gateway clearinghouse for digital art, and already have their next ventures lined up.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Amir Soleymani feels he was duped by the Winklevosses\u2019 Nifty Gateway company.\" class=\"wp-image-19903155\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Amir Soleymani feels he was duped by the Winklevosses\u2019 Nifty Gateway company.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">DUNCAN ELLIOTT<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=683\" alt=\"Soleymani paid for a \u201creproduction\u201d NFT by artist Beeple \u2014 and has filed suit.\" class=\"wp-image-19903153\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=683 683w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=342 341w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\"\/><figcaption>Soleymani paid for a \u201creproduction\u201d NFT by artist Beeple \u2014 and has filed suit.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Beeple<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Through their company Gemini Capital, the 40-year-old brothers are poised to launch a credit card with a twist: Instead of wooing customers with airline miles, the card will reward them with fractions of cryptocurrency for each dollar spent. And last month it was announced that Winklevoss Capital had invested in a company looking to end \u201cextinction\u201d by bringing back the woolly mammoth.<\/p>\n<p>But Amir Soleymani doesn\u2019t think of the brothers as champions or underdogs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are bullies,\u201d said Soleymani, a 45-year-old <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2012\/10\/05\/winks-date-lookalike-babes\/\">art dealer in Liverpool, England<\/a>. \u201cThey have a habit of being greedy and trying to take everything for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In court papers filed as part of an ongoing legal matter with the Winklevosses\u2019 Nifty Gateway, he alleges that the company has frozen his digital wallet, which contains art purchased for hundreds of thousands of dollars \u2014 and now, Solemani told The Post, worth more than $1 million \u2014 and is holding it until he pays $650,000 for art he does not want and did not realize he was purchasing at auction.<\/p>\n<p>A spokeswoman for Nifty Gateway said the rules of the auction were straightforward: \u201cMr. Soleymani\u2019s evolving story about his experience on Nifty Gateway continues to be detached from reality and the experience of other participants on our marketplace. Unlike Mr. Soleymani\u2019s\u00a0story, the structure of our auction was clear to participants and never changed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Soleymani disagreed. \u201cThe auction was like a trap,\u201d he said. \u201c Once you were in, there was no way out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not just their jock reputations that have tarnished the Winklevosses in Silicon Valley. Utopian-leaning boosters of crypto and NFT view the brothers with a suspicion that dates back to the Oscar-winning 2010 film \u201cThe Social Network,\u201d about the founding of Facebook. In it, the brothers are portrayed as all-business villains, while Zuckerberg is seen as the revolutionary rebel.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-4.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Digital collage artist Beeple, also known as Mike Winkelmann.\" class=\"wp-image-19903158\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-4.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-4.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-4.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Digital collage artist Beeple, also known as Mike Winkelmann.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Scott Winkelmann \/AFP via Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Initially, according to \u201cBitcoin Billionaires,\u201d the brothers were so despised that start-ups refused to take their money for fear of alienating Facebook. But they found entry into the cryptocurrency world as investment partners with a pothead computer wizard, Charlie Shrem. After Shrem was arrested in 2014 and sent to jail for charges that included money laundering, the twins founded Gemini Cryptocurrency Exchange, \u00a0specializing in the buying, selling and storing of crypto.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes [the Winkleviosses] claim that they got into Bitcoin because of the philosophy,\u201d said Merav Ozair, a financial <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> professor at Rutgers Business School. \u201cBut I think they got into it because they could make money. The [original] premise of cryptocurrency was \u2018for the people by the people,\u2019 but greed got in the way and it all became lurid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, some say the NFT market is going the same way. In March, a digital-only artwork by Beeple \u2014 aka South Carolina graphic designer Mike Winkleman \u2014 sold for $69.3 million at Christie\u2019s made him the third most valuable living artist. (This, despite critic Ben Davis of Artnet <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> describing Beeple\u2019s work as \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/news.artnet.com\/opinion\/beeple-everydays-review-1951656\">BroBible-level brain farts<\/a>.\u201d) The twins wanted in on the action: In May, Nifty held an auction for Beeple\u2019s \u00a0\u201cAbundance,\u201d which features what looks like a tall, naked Golum with wings.<\/p>\n<p>Soleymani\u2019s troubles with the Winklevii began when he finished third in the bidding for \u201cAbundance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe price went to $650,000 and I bowed out,\u201d said the collector. \u201cThen I got a call from a [Nifty Gateway] staff member named Tommy. He said to me, \u2018Mate, when are you going to pay the $650,000?\u2019 I told him that I was not going to pay $650,000 because I did not win the auction.\u201d (The top bidder, at $1.2 million, was Taylor Gerring, founder of a cryptocurrency called Ethereum.) \u201cTommy told me that I needed to read the terms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The terms decreed that the first 100 finishers would pay their losing bid for a group of pieces by Beeple, including a higher-numbered edition of \u201cAbundance.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Digital collage titled \u201cEverydays: The First 5,000 Days,&quot; by Beeple. \" class=\"wp-image-19903156\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Digital collage titled \u201cEverydays: The First 5,000 Days,\u201d by Beeple. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But Soleymani said that the clause was added less than 24 hours prior to the auction. \u201cI feel that they hid this information. I wanted \u2018Abundance\u2019 number 1, not number three,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>When he refused to pay, Nifty locked Solyemani\u2019s access to around 70 NFTs he had purchased through the company.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause Nifty Gateway keeps my work in a wallet on its site, they have the ability to freeze my account,\u201d said Soleymani. \u201cI knew they could freeze my account [for non-payment] but I did not think they could freeze my assets. It was a betrayal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A source close to the company told The Post, \u201cSince July 23, [Soleymani] has been able to withdraw his assets from the platform.\u201d But Solyemani said his account was still inaccessible as of Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Nifty lawyers filed private arbitration against Soleymani in an effort to get the money that the company believes it is entitled to. Soleymani\u2019s attorney fired back with a claim of particulars, asking that the case be tried in England.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe High Court [there] is public; I want this to be tried publicly rather than in an office, behind closed doors,\u201d Soleymani said. \u201cIf the law [publicly] finds Nifty, which is owned by the Winklevoss twins, at fault, they are done. They will lose the trust of [the NFT] community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even though the brothers are, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/michaeldelcastillo\/2021\/04\/05\/revenge-of-the-winklevii-facebook-winklevoss-bitcoin-nft-billionaire-revenge\/?sh=23f6776a1572\">according to Forbes<\/a>, now worth a combined $6 billion, \u201cMoney is irrelevant [to them],\u201d Mezrich said. \u201cIf they think they are in the right, they go until the end. Honor and right-and-wrong are what make them tick.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignleft\">\n<blockquote><p>If the\u00a0law finds Nifty, which is owned by the Winklevoss twins, at fault, they\u00a0are done.<\/p>\n<p><cite>Amir Soleymani<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Tyler and Cameron are what\u2019s known as \u201cmirror twins.\u201d <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonmagazine.com\/arts-entertainment\/2019\/05\/29\/winklevoss-twins\/\">Mezrich described it in Boston magazine<\/a> as such: \u201cIf one mirror twin has a birthmark on his right shoulder, the other has one on his left. When one of the twins is a lefty, the other favors the right hand. Where Tyler Winklevoss is more left-brained and analytical, Cameron is more empathetic and goofier. Interviewing them together is like interviewing a single source, because they not only complete each other\u2019s sentences, they also actively think together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The twins grew up in the privileged and well-manicured environs of Greenwich, Conn. Their father, a college professor, devised a software that became widely used in the pension industry, and the brothers attended Harvard and Oxford.<\/p>\n<p>After accusing fellow Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea for the creation of what eventually became Facebook, the twins landed a $65 million settlement from the company in 2008. They took the money in stock and cash, a move that was seen as a gamble at the time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe success of Facebook was not a lock at that point,\u201d said Mezrich. \u201cIt wound up being worth half-a-billion-dollars [after Facebook went public in 2012].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Time has not healed wounds, though. \u201cThey harbor ill will toward Mark [Zuckerberg],\u201d Mezrich said. \u201cAnd Mark does not like seeing them as billionaires.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-6.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"The Winklevoss twins are infamous for claiming Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea to create Facebook.\" class=\"wp-image-19903159\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-6.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-6.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/winklevoss-beeple-nft-6.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>The Winklevoss twins are infamous for claiming Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea to create Facebook.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The author added that the competition goes beyond money. \u201c[The brothers] feel that they are better off now than they would have been if they had stuck with Facebook,\u201d Mezrich said. \u201cIt\u2019s incredible how everything has turned on its head. Facebook is now the establishment, Mark is on top of it and looked at as the villain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Winklevii definitely seem to be having more fun than the beleaguered Zuckerberg, who\u2019s plagued with issues of censorship, government investigations and allegations of intentionally addicting children to Instagram, which Facebook owns.<\/p>\n<p>The twin\u2019s punk-and-emo cover band Mars Junction <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2021\/07\/29\/cameron-and-tyler-winklevoss-band-play-their-first-live-gig\/?_ga=2.109722563.753750107.1634901705-1752819301.1634410583\">rocked the Knitting Factory<\/a> this past summer. They\u2019ve been seen partying in the Hamptons with Christie Brinkley and have dated models Natalia Beber (Cameron), Amanda Salvato (Cameron) and Marina Theiss (Tyler). \u201cThey ski in the mountains, they vacation in St. Barts, they have been to the Met Ball with supermodels,\u201d Mezrich said. \u201cThey are a great second-act story and in America we love second acts. They\u2019re winning now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Soleymani thinks they\u2019re acting like losers. \u201cI really don\u2019t care about those guys,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to expose wrongdoing on the platform. The Winklevosses? Who are they?\u201d\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/10\/23\/winklevoss-twins-are-tangled-up-in-nft-scandal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Winklevoss twins are tangled up in NFT scandal&#8221; Although you\u2019d never know it by looking at the strapping, Harvard educated, billionaire Winklevoss twins, the former Olympic rowers view themselves as underdogs. \u201cThey always saw themselves fighting to prove something,\u201d Ben Mezrich, who spent a year hanging out with the so-called Winklevii for his book \u201cBitcoin&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":357577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/TheShameoftheWinklevii.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[76971,95118,74866,117955,118001],"class_list":["post-357576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-cameron-winklevoss","tag-nft","tag-winklevoss-twins","tag-10-23-21","tag-tyler-winklevoss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}