“We are thrilled to be combining two of our greatest passions — rowing and crypto — with our sponsorship of this historic event,” said the Winklevoss twins.
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, co-founders of the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange and former olympian rowers, will be sponsoring the 2021 Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race.
In an announcement from Gemini today, the Winklevoss twins said the crypto exchange would be the principal sponsor for this year’s boat race between Oxford and Cambridge Universities — an event going back to 1829. In addition, Gemini will be funding a £75,000 bursary for “young people with limited access to rowing.”
Both brothers rowed at Harvard University for four years while majoring in economics, later competing at the 2007 Pan American Games and 2008 Beijing Olympics. The twins also participated in the 2010 Boat Race while studying business at Oxford.
“Rowing was our first foray into entrepreneurship, inspiring us to create the varsity rowing team at our high school,” said the Winklevoss twins. “We are thrilled to be combining two of our greatest passions — rowing and crypto — with our sponsorship of this historic event.”
With a combined worth of more than $2 billion, the twins are some of the richest Bitcoin (BTC) billionaires, having invested $11 million into the crypto asset in 2013. The pair are reportedly considering taking Gemini public as reports of Coinbase moving toward a public listing with an IPO circulate.