_(1).jpg) Winklevoss in 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | (1981-08-21)August 21, 1981 (age 44) Southampton, New York, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Harvard University Christ Church, Oxford | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 220 lb (100 kg) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relative | Tyler Winklevoss (brother) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Rowing | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | Harvard University Oxford University | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | United States Olympic Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympic finals | 6th place,Beijing Olympics | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Cameron Howard Winklevoss (born August 21, 1981) is an Americancryptocurrency investor, formerOlympicrower, and cofounder ofWinklevoss Capital Management andGemini cryptocurrency exchange. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the2008 Summer Olympics with his rowing partner and identical twin brother,Tyler Winklevoss. Winklevoss and his brother are known for co-founding HarvardConnection (later renamedConnectU) along withHarvard classmateDivya Narendra. In 2004, the Winklevoss twins suedFacebook founderMark Zuckerberg, claiming he stole their ConnectU idea to create thesocial networking siteFacebook. In addition to ConnectU, Winklevoss also co-founded the social media websiteGuest of a Guest withRachelle Hruska.
Cameron Howard Winklevoss was born on August 21, 1981, inSouthampton, New York, and raised inGreenwich, Connecticut.[1] He is the son of Carol (née Leonard) andHoward Winklevoss.[2][3] Howard was an adjunct professor ofactuarial science at theWharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. At an early age, he (left-handed) and his identical "mirror-image" twin brotherTyler (right-handed), demonstrated a pattern of teamwork, buildingLego together and playing musical instruments.[4][5] At the age of 13, they taught themselvesHTML and started a web-page company, which developed websites for businesses.[6]
Winklevoss went to theGreenwich Country Day School before attending theBrunswick School for high school.[7] He showed a fondness for the classics in high school, studyingLatin andAncient Greek. During his junior year, he co-founded the crew program with his brother.[8]
On June 14, 2002, Winklevoss's older sister, Amanda, died from cardiac arrest induced by drug overdose.[9]
He enrolled atHarvard University in 2000 for his undergraduate studies where he majored ineconomics, earning anAB degree and graduating in 2004.[6] At Harvard, he was a member of the men's varsitycrew, thePorcellian Club[10] and theHasty Pudding Club.
In 2009, Winklevoss entered theSaïd Business School at theUniversity of Oxford where he obtained anMBA in 2010.[4] While at Oxford he was anOxford Blue, and rowed, in a losing effort, in theBlue Boat in the156thOxford-Cambridge Boat Race.[11][12][13]
In December 2002, Winklevoss, along with his brotherTyler Winklevoss and fellow Harvard classmateDivya Narendra, sought a better way to connect with fellow students atHarvard University and other universities.[14] The three conceived of asocial network forHarvard students namedHarvardConnection; the concept ultimately expanded to other schools around the country. What made ConnectU different from other social media platforms was the need to have a specific domain that matched the 'club' you were getting into, likeharvard.edu. The idea was to make each school its own club, in which students could connect and be exclusive, similar to the infamous final clubs at Harvard. In January 2003, they enlisted the help of fellowHarvard student,programmer and friend Sanjay Mavinkurve to begin building HarvardConnection. Mavinkurve commenced work on HarvardConnection but departed the project in spring 2003 when he graduated and went to work forGoogle.
After the departure of Mavinkurve, the Winklevosses and Narendra approached Narendra's friend,Harvard student andprogrammer Victor Gao, to work on HarvardConnection. Gao, a senior inMather House, opted not to become a partner in the venture, instead agreeing to be paid in awork for hire capacity. He was paid $400 for his work on the website code during the summer and fall of 2003, when he left the project.
In 2004, ConnectU filed a lawsuit against Facebook alleging that creatorMark Zuckerberg had broken anoral contract with them. The suit alleged that Zuckerberg had copied their idea[15][16] and illegally usedsource code intended for the website he was hired to create.[17][18][19][20] Facebook countersued in regard to Social Butterfly, a project put out byThe Winklevoss Chang Group, an alleged partnership between ConnectU and i2hub, another campus service. It named among the defendants ConnectU, Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, Divya Narendra, Winston Williams, andWayne Chang, founder of i2hub.[21] A settlement agreement for both cases was reached in February 2008, reportedly valued at $65 million.[22] However, in May 2010, it was reported that ConnectU accused Facebook of securities fraud on the value of the stock that was part of the settlement and wanted to get the settlement undone. According to ConnectU's allegations, the value of the stock was worth $11 million instead of $45 million that Facebook presented at the time of settlement. This meant the settlement value, at the time, was $31 million, instead of the $65 million.[23][24] On August 26, 2010,The New York Times reported that Facebook shares were trading at $76 per share in the secondary market, putting the total settlement value at close to $120 million.[25][26] If the lawsuit to adjust the settlement to match the difference were to go through, the value would quadruple to over $466 million.[23] According to Steven M. Davidoff, "Facebook never represented its valuation in this negotiation, and so there is no prior statement that the company needs to correct."[27] Additionally, Cameron publicly announced that he fully supports Facebook.[28]
After defeat at the appellate court level, the Winklevoss twins decided to petition theSupreme Court of the United States to hear the case, but in June 2011 announced that they had changed their minds.[29]
One of ConnectU's law firms, Quinn Emanuel, inadvertently disclosed the confidential settlement amount in marketing material by printing "WON $65 million settlement against Facebook".[30] Quinn Emanuel sought $13 million of the settlement as its fee. ConnectU fired Quinn Emanuel and sued the law firm for malpractice.[31] On August 25, 2010, an arbitration panel ruled that Quinn Emanuel "earned its full contingency fee". It also found that Quinn Emanuel committed no malpractice.[32]
On December 21, 2009, i2hub founderWayne Chang and The i2hub Organization launched a lawsuit against ConnectU and its founders, seeking 50% of the settlement. The complaint said, "The Winklevosses and Howard Winklevoss filed [a] patent application, U.S. Patent Application No. 20060212395, on or around March 15, 2005, but did not list Chang as a co-inventor." It also stated, "Through this litigation, Chang asserts his ownership interest in The Winklevoss Chang Group and ConnectU, including the settlement proceeds."[33] Lee Gesmer of the firm Gesmer Updegrove posted the 33-page complaint online.[34][35]
On May 13, 2011, Judge Peter Lauriat ruled against the Winklevosses. Chang's case against them could proceed. The Winklevosses had argued that the court lacked jurisdiction because the settlement with Facebook had not been distributed and therefore Chang had not suffered any injury. Lauriat wrote, "The flaw in this argument is that defendants appear to conflate loss of the settlement proceed with loss of rights. Chang alleges that he has received nothing in return for the substantial benefits he provided to ConnectU, including the value of his work, as well as i2hub's users and goodwill." Lauriat also stated that although Chang's claims to the settlement were "too speculative to confer standing, his claims with respect to an ownership in ConnectU are not. They constitute an injury separate and distinct from his possible share of the settlement proceeds. The court concludes that Chang has pled sufficient facts to confer standing with respect to his claims against the Winklevoss defendants."[36][37][38][39][40][41]
In 2008 Cameron co-founded the online siteGuest of a Guest, ablog that focuses on parties and nightlife inNew York City,Los Angeles,the Hamptons andWashington, D.C., withRachelle Hruska; she bought out his stake in 2012.[42]
In 2014, Cameron and his brother Tyler founded Gemini, a New York-based cryptocurrency exchange.[43]
In January 2022, Gemini began sponsoringReal Bedford F.C., an English non-league football club owned by bitcoin podcaster Peter McCormack; in April 2024 the Winklevoss twins were announced as co-owners of the club following a major investment.[44]
Winklevoss began rowing at the age of 15, encouraged by family friends and the example of next-door neighbor Ethan Ayer who rowed at Harvard University andCambridge University.[8] Winklevoss began rowing at the Saugatuck Rowing Club on theSaugatuck River in 1997.[45][46] Winklevoss' high school did not have crew; in his junior year, he and his brother co-founded a crew program.[8] In the summer of 1999, he made the United States Junior National Rowing Team, competing in thecoxed pair event with his brother at theWorld Rowing Junior Championships inPlovdiv, Bulgaria.[46]
Cameron's rowing discipline issweep rowing.[47]
Winklevoss rowed at Harvard University for four years under coachHarry Parker, while completing his undergraduate studies.[48] In 2004, he sat 6-seat in the "engine room" of the Harvard men's varsity heavyweighteight boat.[46] The 2004 crew was nicknamed the "God Squad" because, according to his brother, some of them believed in God while the rest believed theywere God.[49] As aHarvard Crimson in 2004, he helped the "God Squad" win theEastern Sprints, theIntercollegiate Rowing Association Championship, and theHarvard–Yale Regatta as part of an undefeated collegiate racing season.[50]
In the summer of 2004, Winklevoss and the God Squad traveled toLucerne, Switzerland, to compete in the LucerneRowing World Cup. They defeated the 2004 British and FrenchOlympic eight boats in the semi-final to earn a spot in the grand final, in which they placed 6th.[51] The team then traveled to theHenley Royal Regatta where they competed in theGrand Challenge Cup. Winklevoss helped his team defeat the Cambridge University Blue Boat in the semi-final before they fell to the Dutch Olympic eight boat team (of theHollandia Roeiclub) in the final by2⁄3 of a boat length.[52] The Dutch team went on to win the Olympicsilver medal at theAthens Olympic Games a month later.[53]
In 2007, Winklevoss was named to the United States Pan American Team and competed at the2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[54] He won a silver medal in the men'scoxless four event[55] and agold medal in the men's eight event on theLagoa Rodrigo de Freitas.[56]
In 2008, Winklevoss was named to the United States Olympic Team and competed at the2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.[57] He rowed with his brother in the men's coxless pair event that took place at theShunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. The brothers were coached byTed Nash.[48] In their first heat, they failed to finish in the top three and did not qualify for the Semifinals. In the Repechage (a last chance to make the Semifinals), they took first, advancing them to the Semifinals. A strong finish in Semifinal 2 put them in the Final. They ended up finishing sixth out of the fourteen countries that had qualified for the Olympics.[58]
In 2009, Winklevoss won a bronze medal at theRowing World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland, in the men'scoxless four event.[59]
In 2012, Winklevoss and his brother Tyler founded Winklevoss Capital Management, a firm which invests across multiple asset classes with an emphasis on providing seed funding and infrastructure to early-stage startups. The company is headquartered in New York'sFlatiron District.
In the first half of 2025, Winklevoss and his brother Tyler each donated around $500,000 toMAGA Inc., asuper PAC that supportsDonald Trump.[60]
In October 2025, Winklevoss and his brother Tyler were named by theWhite House as donors to the construction of theWhite House State Ballroom, a proposed 90,000-square-foot expansion of theEast Wing.[61]
Cameron and his brother Tyler are both played by actorArmie Hammer inThe Social Network (2010), a film directed byDavid Fincher about the founding ofFacebook. ActorJosh Pence was the body double for Tyler with Hammer's face superimposed.
The twins were depicted on the cartoon comedy showThe Simpsons in the eleventh episode of Season 23 in the episode called "The D'oh-cial Network" which aired on January 15, 2012. The Winklevoss twins are seen rowing in the 2012Olympic Games againstMarge Simpson's sistersPatty and Selma. There is a reference made to the $65 million Facebook settlement.[62]
Cameron and Tyler are featured as the main protagonists in the 2019 bookBitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption.[63]
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