Who are the Winklevoss twins and where are they now? From scoring a US$65 million payout from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and competing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics to crypto fraud and bankruptcy

Dec 31 , 2023

Twins Tyler Winklevoss (left) and Cameron Winklevoss have been on quite the journey together. Photo: Getty Images

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss grew up in Connecticut in a business-focused household, went to Harvard and competed in rowing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics

The twins co-founded crypto exchange Gemini in 2014, invested US$11 million into bitcoin, and were among the first prominent figures to publicly disclose their stake in the cryptocurrency

More than a decade after the 2010 film The Social Network catapulted them into the public eye, the Winklevoss twins – Cameron and Tyler – continue to make headlines. The film delved into the story of Facebook’s creation and the feud over whether its founder Mark Zuckerberg “stole” the idea from the twins.

Since then, the Olympic rowing twins have continued to court controversial business opportunities, leading to investigations and lawsuits against them. Here’s what you need to know about the Winklevii, the name popularly used to refer to Cameron and Tyler.

They went to Harvard and competed in the Beijing Olympics

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss grew up in the US New England state of Connecticut. Photo: @winklevoss/Instagram

The twins were raised in the US state of Connecticut and both majored in economics while studying at Harvard. Per Forbes, the twins said they grew up in an entrepreneurial and business-focused household.

The Winklevoss twins were Olympic rowers, and competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Photo: @winklevoss/Instagram

The brothers, who are known for their 1.96 metre height, competed in the rowing coxless pairs at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Per a profile of Tyler on the Olympics website, the brothers started rowing together in senior school and later at Harvard University.

The Facebook lawsuit

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss with Harvard classmate Divya Narendra. Photo: @winklevoss/Instagram

At Harvard, with classmate Divya Narendra, they started university social networking site, Harvard Connection, later known as ConnectU. The story goes that they asked Mark Zuckerberg to help them expand the social network to other universities, which later led to a legal battle and a he-said, she-said argument over the origins of Facebook. In a lengthy lawsuit, Zuckerberg and the twins eventually reached an agreement that saw Tyler and Cameron receive a US$65 million payout from the Facebook boss.

The feud was detailed in The Social Network, setting the groundwork for Tyler and Cameron’s place in the public eye. Directed by David Fincher, the film was based on the 2009 book, The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, by Ben Mezrich.