By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 26th, 2024
Popular crypto bulls and co-founders of Gemini Exchange, the Winklevoss Twins, have predicted that in two years, all the FAANG companies will follow Facebook’s footsteps and launch their individual cryptocurrency ventures.
During a recent interview, billionaire brothers and crypto bulls, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, have forecasted that sometime in the two years, all the FAANG companies will float some cryptocurrency platform of the other. The Winklevoss Twins founders of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini and very popular cryptocurrency proponents said this while discussing Facebook’s Libra, predicting that Facebook is just the first of the five companies to begin.
According to Tyler:
“Our prediction is every FAANG Company will have some sort of cryptocurrency project within the next two years.”
FAANG is an unofficial acronym for the five big tech/internet giants including Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google.
The twins, who have had a reasonably tumultuous relationship with Facebook in the past, further shared their excitement about Facebook’s foray into the cryptosphere. They expressed hope that a giant like Facebook creating a crypto project, will help simplify the sector, making it attractive to non-crypto people. Explaining this, Tyler added:
“[Libra] is very positive for crypto. A company the stature of Facebook talking about cryptocurrencies demystifies the word and makes people feel a lot more comfortable.”
Work With Regulators, Twins Tell Zuckerberg
The general sentiment from U.S. lawmakers towards Facebook’s Libra hasn’t been entirely favourable and on the 2nd of July, Maxine Waters, the House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman along with her colleagues, released a statement asking Facebook to suspend the Libra and its Calibra wallet due to issues surrounding “privacy, trading, national security and monetary policy.”
Even though David Marcus, the head of the Calibra project, is already due to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on July 16, he still responded through a letter saying “I want to give you my personal assurance that we are committed to taking the time to do this right.”
Now, regardless of the previous relationship with Facebook, the twins were asked during the interview, if they had any words of advice for Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO ahead of the Senate hearing. To this, Tyler Winklevoss responded that this is a great opportunity for the cryptocurrency sector and has asked Zuckerberg and Marcus to help set the right regulation for the industry.
Tyler advices:
“Work with regulators. Talk with them. You know, we definitely went through the front door and we tried to educate the regulators and shape the regulation in a thoughtful manner because if you get the regulation wrong, it can stifle innovation, but the right regulation allows for innovation to flourish, and we think we have achieved that right balance with New York.”
Nevertheless, fears about the Libra became a bit more heightened after Jerome Powell, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve specifically said that continuance of the Libra project requires that a few “serious concerns” be addressed and “cannot go forward” until that happens. This announcement alone impacted Bitcoin, causing its price to drop by more than 10%.
Will the Libra Trade on Gemini?
Regardless of the fact that the Libra will not be officially floated until 2020, the twins have already disclosed that they are not opposed to trading the Libra on their Gemini exchange if it isn’t too restricted by the Libra Association.
“We’ll evaluate Libra in earnest, and it might actually be an asset that is one day listed if it’s an open protocol; that’s possible.”