The Winklevoss twins have both been very vocal in their support of bitcoin, which is understandable – given the fact they missed the opportunity to cash in on tech giant Facebook.

The brothers are avid bitcoin advocates, and big investors – with an estimated $35m worth of bitcoin between them.

Over the weekend, Cameron Winklevoss discussed the future of bitcoin on reddit, making a few interesting announcements and predictions.

Cameron’s ‘conservative’ valuation estimate sounds anything but – he believes each bitcoin will pass $40,000, roughly 40 times what a bitcoin is worth today.

He described his ‘small bull’ scenario to a reddit user who wondered how bitcoin would remain a viable currency:

“Small bull case scenario for Bitcoin is a 400bn USD market cap, so 40,000 USD a coin, but I believe it could be much larger. When this will happen, if it happens, I don’t know, but if it happens, it will probably happen much faster than anyone imagines.”

This is not a new announcement, as the twins said the bitcoin market cap could hit $400bn back in November.

Another user remarked that Winklevoss stands to gain handsomely if the prediction pans out, questioning the credibility of his prediction. He added:

“I have put my money where my mouth is. I stand to gain as well as lose depending on how the future unfolds. Having skin in the game is called accountability. Bitcoin is way too large for one single person to be able to manipulate it by talking their book.”

‘Commodity money’

When asked whether he sees bitcoin as a currency or a speculative vehicle, Cameron says he views bitcoin as commodity money. The reply came under a lot of scrutiny from other redditers who argued that Cameron’s position is vague at best, as bitcoin does not fit into existing definitions of what a currency should be.

He added that he views bitcoin as an alternative to fiat currencies rather than a replacement. Winklevoss also revealed that he did not make any altcoin investments yet.

“I don’t believe that any of the ‘problems’ or issues that they address can’t be addressed by bitcoin itself.”

He also admitted that he does not look at the bitcoin price every day, as he is in bitcoin for the long-haul, adding: “Spartans hold.”

Winklevoss did not discuss the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust, which the pair are setting up to help manage their bitcoin investments and give more legitimacy to bitcoin as an alternative currency.

He said he could not discuss the matter due to gun-jumping rules.

The twins filed for a $20m IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission back in July. The trust is sponsored by another company created by the twins, dubbed Math-Based Asset Services LLC.

At the time the brothers told the New York Times that they had roughly 1% of all bitcoins in circulation.

Image: Max Morse / Flickr