Winklevoss twins invest $4.5m of Bitcoin in UK football club

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, founders of the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, are now investors in Real Bedford Football Club.

The brothers put $4.5 million worth of Bitcoin into the football club as part of a transaction facilitated through Winklevoss Capital, their investment firm.

This new partnership places them alongside cryptocurrency podcaster Peter McCormack, who acquired the club in 2022.

The Winklevoss twins’ financial infusion into Real Bedford is committed to several forward-looking projects. These include creating a new training facility, establishing a football academy and bolstering support for youth and girls’ football programs.

The twins became indirectly involved with the club in January 2022 after Gemini became one of its sponsors.

With this latest investment, Real Bedford also plans to establish a Bitcoin treasury. 

Real Bedford’s connection to high-profile American investors echoes a similar trend seen with Wrexham AFC in Wales, which actors Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds purchased in February 2021 for £2 million ($2.5 million).

Like Reynolds and McElhenney, the Winklevoss twins are aligning their technological investment prowess with sports, expanding their influence beyond traditional business sectors into regional and community sports initiatives.

But the Winklevoss pair is just the latest in a long line of wealthy investors who see football clubs as a lucrative trophy asset.

According to a recent S&P Global report, “A couple of decades ago, sports teams were primarily viewed as risky vanity assets.”

Today, it’s a different scenario. The rising value of sports media rights and changes to players’ salaries have made sports an asset class that “combines market-beating returns with the defensiveness often seen in low-growth utilities.”

One team that’s reportedly seeking to sell a minority stake is Sporting Lisbon Football Club in Portugal.

Current deal talks follow a debt restructuring at the club — where star Cristiano Ronaldo got his start.

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