Ben Mezrich

Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption

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The Social Network film introduced them to us as some sort of antagonists, but there are two sides to every story. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who became famous through their much publicised feud with Mark Zuckerberg over the Facebook case, had to reinvent themselves after the media labelled them as “finished”. Their redemption started with an investment in technology that was little known at the time, but which made them billionaires in a few years. In Bitcoin Billionaires we will find out how the most hated twins in the tech world reinvented themselves, and against all odds, managed to build a financial empire.

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Analysis and key concepts

01.

The Social Network and the multimillion dollar agreement

02.

A life devoted to sport

03.

The lukewarm welcome at Silicon Valley

04.

A party in Ibiza and a casual chance meeting

05.

The exchange created in a kid’s bedroom

06.

Public and private keys: how Bitcoin works

07.

The Cyprus crisis and the future of the economy

08.

A security system thought through to the tiniest detail

09.

Doubts about the legality of the system

10.

Business is booming, personal relationships are cracking

11.

The end of Silk Road and the beginning of trouble

12.

Lessons learned and a new beginning

13.

Quotes

14.

Take-home message

01. The Social Network and the multimillion dollar agreement

Twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss became famous a few years ago thanks to a case that sparked major discussion: they accused Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, of stealing their idea to create the famous social network. Years of court battles led to an out of court settlement and they accepted somewhere in the region of 65 million dollars to settle the matter, of which 20 were paid in cash and 45 in stock of the Zuckerberg company.

A few months later, Facebook went public and the shares shot up in value: the twins’ stock became worth over $500 million, but after this whole ordeal, public opinion was not exactly on their side. Seen by the public as a couple of jovial jocks, they were branded by the media as rich, spoiled kids trying to make money on the back of others.

Sometimes though, life offers up the chance for people to redeem themselves and for the twins, this opportunity came in the form of a digital revolution that goes by the name of Bitcoin.

02. A life devoted to sport

03. The lukewarm welcome at Silicon Valley

04. A party in Ibiza and a casual chance meeting

05. The exchange created in a kid’s bedroom

06. Public and private keys: how Bitcoin works

07. The Cyprus crisis and the future of the economy

08. A security system thought through to the tiniest detail

09. Doubts about the legality of the system

10. Business is booming, personal relationships are cracking

11. The end of Silk Road and the beginning of trouble

12. Lessons learned and a new beginning

13. Quotes

14. Take-home message

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Many useful tips to:

Get to know the origins of the Bitcoin phenomenon, through the eyes of the main players.
Get to know the backstory of the two key figures of the digital currency revolution.
Make us think about the two different ways of thinking that have shaped the history of Bitcoin.

The author

Ben Mezrich is an American author, famous for writing the best-selling book “The Accidental Billionaires”, the story of the legal battle between the Winklevoss twins and Mark Zuckerberg, which was later adapted to the big screen in the film “The Social Network”. He has written over twenty books, which have sold over four million copies worldwide.

Edition

Publishing house:

Flatiron Books

Year:

2020

Pages:

288

ISBN:

978-1250217769