Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twin entrepreneurs who have become prominent figures in the cryptocurrency industry, recently sat down for an interview at Bitcoin Amsterdam to discuss their latest ventures, their outlook on Bitcoin’s future, and their philosophy on supporting multiple cryptocurrency protocols. The conversation covered their new Zcash treasury company, their investment in Treasury (a European Bitcoin-focused venture), prediction markets, and their bullish long-term view on Bitcoin’s price trajectory.
The Launch of a Zcash Treasury Company
The Winklevoss twins have launched a digital asset treasury company focused on Zcash, a cryptocurrency they describe as “encrypted Bitcoin.” This move comes alongside their well-known support for Bitcoin, which they continue to hold as long-term investors.
Tyler Winklevoss explained the rationale behind their interest in both assets: “Bitcoin is where you store your value and Zcash is where you transact or spend your value.” This framing positions the two cryptocurrencies as complementary rather than competing—Bitcoin serving as a store of value similar to digital gold, while Zcash provides privacy-preserving transaction capabilities for everyday use.
The twins draw a parallel between the catalysts that drove adoption of each cryptocurrency. “The catalyst for Bitcoin was very much the financial crisis of 2008,” Tyler noted, referring to the loss of trust in traditional financial institutions that accompanied the global banking crisis. “And the catalyst for privacy is the age or the dawn of the age of AI.”
This observation connects the growing interest in privacy-preserving technologies to concerns about artificial intelligence and its implications for surveillance, data collection, and personal autonomy. As AI systems become more sophisticated and pervasive, the twins argue that demand for financial privacy tools will increase, creating an inflection point for privacy-focused cryptocurrencies like Zcash.
The Winklevoss brothers emphasized that their support for Zcash stems from a long-standing conviction. “We’ve been bullish since the launch, since inception,” Cameron stated, noting that the recent surge in interest feels like an inflection point similar to pivotal moments in Bitcoin’s history. He recalled Bitcoin’s first major inflection point during the Cyprus banking crisis, when the threat of depositor bail-ins sent Bitcoin prices sharply higher and brought the cryptocurrency to mainstream attention.
Treasury: Europe’s First Bitcoin DAT
The twins also discussed their investment in Treasury, a new Amsterdam-based company positioning itself to become Europe’s first Bitcoin digital asset treasury company. The model follows the approach pioneered by companies like MicroStrategy, which hold Bitcoin on corporate balance sheets as a treasury reserve asset.
“Giving more access to Europeans to Bitcoin is important, so we’re excited about that,” Tyler explained. While Treasury has not yet completed its listing process, the Winklevoss brothers expressed eagerness to see the company go live as soon as possible to provide European investors with accessible Bitcoin exposure before prices potentially appreciate further.
The treasury company model has gained significant traction in 2024 and 2025, with numerous publicly traded companies adopting strategies of accumulating Bitcoin as a reserve asset. The Winklevoss twins’ involvement with Treasury reflects their view that this model will expand globally and that Europe represents an underserved market for this type of investment vehicle.
Prediction Markets Coming to Gemini
The interview touched on Gemini’s plans to enter the prediction market space, following the notable success of platforms like Polymarket during the 2024 election cycle. Prediction markets allow users to trade contracts based on the outcomes of real-world events, effectively creating markets that aggregate information about the probability of various outcomes.
“We’re working to bring prediction markets live on Gemini,” Tyler confirmed. “We’re very excited about them because you can really build a market on anything, any event. And so we think they could be—it’s very early days—but we think they could be as large as traditional capital markets over the long term.”
This ambitious assessment reflects the potential for prediction markets to expand beyond political events into areas like sports, entertainment, corporate developments, economic indicators, and countless other domains where people seek to forecast outcomes. The ability to create markets on essentially any verifiable event opens enormous possibilities for information aggregation and price discovery.
The Gemini Credit Card Success
The Gemini credit card, which rewards users with cryptocurrency instead of traditional cash back or points, has been well-received by the market. The Winklevoss twins outlined why they believe this product represents a paradigm shift in consumer credit.
“Most credit cards you can earn cash back or points. Airline miles, we think points are pointless. Airline miles, who knows what they’re worth, right? And cash is always depreciating,” Tyler explained. “So the ability to earn crypto back is a game changer and it’s changing the paradigm.”
The twins noted that user engagement with the Gemini app far exceeds what most credit card companies experience. Cameron shared his own experience: “I have a obviously a Gemini credit card. I also have a lot of other credit cards. I never log into any of those other credit card apps. I don’t even try. It’s a terrible experience. Terrible UX. But I log into the Gemini app all the time for the credit card and see the purchases and how much Bitcoin I’ve earned back.”
Gemini has pursued co-branded credit card partnerships, including Bitcoin Orange, Solana, and XRP branded versions. The company plans to expand the card program into new verticals, including small business and merchant accounts, allowing business owners to earn cryptocurrency rewards on their business expenses just as they currently can on personal spending.
A Non-Zero-Sum View of Cryptocurrency
One of the most interesting aspects of the conversation involved the Winklevoss twins’ philosophy on supporting multiple cryptocurrency protocols, which sometimes draws criticism from Bitcoin maximalists who view other cryptocurrencies as distractions or competitors.
“We don’t view this as a zero-sum game where the pie is fixed,” Cameron explained. “Bitcoin is obviously gold 2.0. It’s the soundest money in the world. But when Ethereum came along and started working on innovating programmability, we thought it was really cool. Bitcoin didn’t want to do that. I understand that. It’s great that other people are innovating with the technology on smart contracts and whatnot.”
This perspective frames different cryptocurrencies as innovating in different domains rather than competing for a fixed pool of users and capital. Bitcoin innovated with proof-of-work consensus and sound money principles, Ethereum innovated with programmability and smart contracts, and Zcash innovated with privacy-preserving transactions.
Cameron argued that alternative cryptocurrencies often serve as gateways that bring new participants into the broader ecosystem, ultimately benefiting Bitcoin. “Once you buy Ethereum, well, then you’re closer, one step closer to buying Bitcoin. So I think it brings more people into the space. Some people first started getting involved in crypto through NFTs and then eventually bought Bitcoin, but if it wasn’t for NFTs, they wouldn’t have ever purchased Bitcoin.”
This view suggests that the cryptocurrency ecosystem benefits from diversity and experimentation, with different projects attracting different types of participants—whether engineers interested in smart contract development, artists interested in digital art and NFTs, or privacy advocates interested in encrypted transactions—who may then expand their interests to include Bitcoin.
Privacy Features and Bitcoin’s Evolution
The interview explored whether the Winklevoss twins would prefer to see privacy features implemented directly on Bitcoin rather than requiring a separate cryptocurrency like Zcash. This question touches on ongoing debates within the Bitcoin community about adding new functionality versus maintaining Bitcoin’s conservative approach to protocol changes.
“I think the current world works with Bitcoin and Zcash,” Tyler responded. “I mean, ideally, Bitcoin would have added it in in the early days, and maybe it will over time. And I think a lot of cryptos are going to be adding it in over time.”
He acknowledged Bitcoin’s foundational achievement while suggesting there remains work to be done: “Bitcoin really proved out the concept of decentralization and non-government money in a big way, but there’s more work to be done.”
The question of privacy on Bitcoin involves technical debates about features like OPCAT (a Bitcoin script operation that Satoshi Nakamoto disabled in the original software) and whether they should be reintroduced to enable privacy-preserving applications. The Zerocash paper, which provided the theoretical foundation for Zcash, was originally conceived with Bitcoin in mind before being implemented as a separate cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin Price Outlook: A Minimum 10x From Current Levels
When asked about long-term Bitcoin price expectations, the Winklevoss twins offered a bullish assessment grounded in their view of Bitcoin as digital gold that must eventually match or exceed gold’s market capitalization.
“Bitcoin is gold 2.0, so it’s got to disrupt the market cap of gold. So, just do the math,” Tyler stated. “But I don’t know if it’s a 10x from here or it’s a little bit more. But I think we see Bitcoin trading at over a million dollars per coin in the not too distant future. And so I think it’s a minimum 10x from here.”
This price target reflects the thesis that Bitcoin will capture market share from gold as a store of value asset. With gold’s current market capitalization in the trillions of dollars and Bitcoin’s market cap substantially lower, the math suggests significant appreciation potential if Bitcoin successfully establishes itself as a superior form of gold—one that is more portable, divisible, verifiable, and resistant to seizure.
The twins pointed to the maturation of the industry and growing institutional interest as factors supporting their optimistic outlook. The approval and success of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the United States has provided traditional investors with accessible vehicles for Bitcoin exposure, while corporate treasury adoption continues to expand.
Conclusion: Building Access to Digital Assets
Throughout the conversation, the Winklevoss twins emphasized their focus on creating access to digital assets they believe in. Whether through Gemini’s exchange and credit card products, their involvement with treasury companies in both the United States and Europe, or their support for privacy-focused cryptocurrencies like Zcash, the common thread involves lowering barriers for people to acquire and use these assets.
Their willingness to support multiple cryptocurrency protocols while maintaining conviction in Bitcoin as the foundational store of value reflects a pragmatic approach to an industry still in its relatively early stages. Rather than viewing different projects as competitors, they see them as innovations that collectively expand the ecosystem and bring new participants who may eventually become Bitcoin holders.
As the cryptocurrency industry continues to mature and intersect with developments in artificial intelligence, privacy technology, and traditional finance, the Winklevoss twins appear positioned to pursue opportunities across multiple domains while maintaining their core commitment to Bitcoin as digital gold and the soundest form of money available.
Acknowledgment: This article was written with the help of AI, which also assisted in research, drafting, editing, and formatting this current version.
