The Winklevoss brothers, who own six-figure Bitcoins, bought Ethereum this time

Famous twin brothers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss recently revealed in a media interview that they have strategically invested in some Ether (the digital asset that supports the Ethereum blockchain).

A few days ago, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) said it would allow the twins to add Ethereum trading products on their Gemini digital currency exchange.

In an interview, Tyler Winklevoss said:

“We invested in (Ethereum), we own the ether.”

The Winklevoss brothers said they began holding Ethereum earlier this year, and while they have not disclosed the exact amount, they said it was a "substantial" amount of investment.

The brothers’ entry into the Ethereum market is notable because, as early as April 2013, they were reported by the media to own 1％ of all Bitcoin in circulation, an estimated 108,000 BTC (about $48.6 million).

Early exploration

The twins began to look at Ethereum last year as it gained traction in the digital currency community, and Winklevoss said that Gemini’s customers then began asking them to add trading in the asset.

In their exploration of Ethereum as an asset class, the brothers were attracted by features of Ethereum described by Taylor: namely, that it includes a Turing-complete computer language that can be used as fuel to perform different smart contract-related tasks.

While Tyler Winklevoss said he and his brother still believe in the value of Bitcoin, these differences in Ethereum inspired them to make the new investment.

“We look at both communities and the people who spend time in both,” Tyler Winklevoss said, “and we see that they take different paths, rather than cannibalizing each other.”

Market Adjustment

However, adding a new investment vehicle wasn’t the only factor driving Gemini’s move to list Ethereum.

As of press time, Gemini’s daily bitcoin trading volume is 811 BTC (about $360,000), which is far lower than other competing regulated exchanges in the United States, such as CoinBase (5,000 BTC) and itBit (3,000 BTC).

However, Tyler Winklevoss remains confident that the platform's daily trading volume is still growing within their expectations.