The billionaire Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler who became well recognized after they allegedly sued Mark Zuckerberg for stealing their idea for Facebook, are now injecting millions into a modest English football club.
The duo, now at the helm of the crypto exchange Gemini, revealed on Friday a $4.5 million bitcoin investment in Real Bedford Football Club (RBFC), marking it as the “first football club powered by bitcoin,” as per a Friday statement.
RBFC, a semiprofessional non-league outfit hailing from Bedford, England, was acquired in 2022 by bitcoin aficionado and podcaster Peter McCormack.
This recent arrangement will witness the Winklevoss twins assume co-ownership of RBFC, alongside McCormack, a lifelong Bedford local.
“There was this value alignment with all of us being early bitcoiners,” Cameron Winklevoss shared with CNBC, elucidating the rationale behind co-owning RBFC with McCormack.
“Being early in Bitcoin is the ultimate asset test. What it shows is you have to have a vision, you have to have conviction, and must be persistent.”
“You have to hold it through the good times and the bad,” he added. “Any journey like this will be a bumpy road. There will be setbacks and hardship.”
What is the major objective?
McCormack explained that he selected the Winklevoss twins because he sought partners who could assist in investing in infrastructure to expand the club.
He intends to allocate a portion of the investment to secure funding for constructing a new training facility, with an estimated cost of approximately £1.6 million ($2 million).
However, McCormack clarified that he does not intend to liquidate any of the bitcoin for this purpose. Instead, bitcoin will function as a reserve for unforeseen circumstances.
“The smart move is to hold the bitcoin, borrow pounds to pay for it, and then the training center pays for itself over seven years because it’s also part of a club that brings money in,” McCormack stated, according to CNBC.
The involvement of the Winklevoss twins in supporting lesser-known U.K. soccer clubs follows a trend set by other American celebrities.
In February 2021, actors Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds famously acquired the small Welsh soccer club Wrexham AFC for £2 million ($2.5 million).
