In My Opinion: Cameron Winklevoss Isn't Fkg Around
Part 1
Happy New Year!
We just hit day 3 of this wonderful time to be alive where it already looks like 2023 is going to be another feisty one in the Crypto space. For those of you that aren’t aware, FTX, the former top 3 exchange within the ecosystem, the one who “lost” ~10 billion dollars of customer funds, ya, them. They’re still singlehandedly bending the ecosystem over due to the contagion spreading deeper and deeper. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
In the most recent news, Cameron Winklevoss, Co-Founder of Gemini, sent an Open Letter to Barry Silbert, “Founder/CEO @DCGco, parent of @Grayscale @GenesisTrading”. To sum up the letter, Winklevoss told Silbert to stop being a pansy, get out in front of the people, and be transparent regarding what’s going on with the customers getting what’s rightfully theirs - their money. Silbert came back with a short Tweet meticulously picking his way around the page and a half letter Cameron wrote where Winklevoss stated “Digital Currency Group (DCG) – of which you are the founder and CEO – owes Genesis (its wholly owned subsidiary) ~$1.675 billion. This is money that Genesis owes to Earn users and other creditors”. Barry came back saying DCG never borrowed $1.675 billion from Genesis.
Whether Barry is playing a game of deception or not, the fact remains that Genesis Trading “temporarily suspended redemptions” on November 16, 2022. Since that Tweet, the Genesis Trading account has not Tweeted again to give any updates to their clientele. We can go ahead and add the context we received from Cameron Winklevoss to conclude that Barry seems to not give a flying fuck about any of it and if DCG is in the clear, he’s in the clear. While I’m sure that doesn’t sit well with the hundreds to thousands of people wanting answers, at least someone with a large following and a voice in the space is finally stepping up for the little guys.
With Gemini being affected by this it’s no secret that Cameron wasn’t just doing this out of the goodness of his heart, there’s incentive for him to get answers for his own company’s wellbeing, but at least he’s making himself look like he’s fighting tooth and nail to get the issues resolved. More than we can say about Mr. Silbert. The one issue that still sits with me about the Winklevoss Twins and Gemini however is regarding opening an account on their platform. One of the key powers Crypto has is making currency available to everyone in the world, no matter who you are or where you live. So why does Gemini require a person to submit a wire transfer from their bank account in order to set up an account with them? Without doing this you will not be able to open an account (at least that has been my experience). It makes no sense considering ~26% of the world’s population doesn’t have a “Financial Institution account” (based on data from 2021). Even though Cameron went on the defense for everyone suffering through this, I’m still on the fence about him and Gemini as an actor in the Crypto and Web3 space. This is definitely a step in the right direction, though.
What will happen next with this ordeal between Digital Currency Group, Genesis, Gemini, and the original founders of Facebook? Unfortunately, it’s hard to say, but at least there’s some dialogue for the community to know that someone has their back on this matter. For that, I thank you Mr. Winklevoss, well done sir.
Have a blessed rest of your week everyone, I’ll post part two when more information comes to light.
Ling