by Ben Mezrich
* * *
Roger Ver has officially given up his U.S. citizenship and currently splits his time between St. Kitts, Japan, and the rest of the world. A huge voice in the crypto world and a controversial figure online (with over half a million followers on Twitter), at the moment Ver is involved in what has essentially been described as a civil war in the Bitcoin community; Ver and a group of like-minded Bitcoiners have broken off to form “Bitcoin Cash,” which takes the cryptocurrency in a different direction in terms of scaling and block size, with a goal of turning it into something that could more easily supplant cash. Ver continues to invest in crypto-related companies and spends much of his time running Bitcoin.com, whose team has recently surpassed a hundred people. Bitcoin.com endeavors to build the tools to allow anyone to interact financially and without government supervision with everyone else in the world.
* * *
Erik Voorhees currently resides in Denver, Colorado, and is the CEO and founder of a cryptocurrency exchange company called Shapeshift, which allows customers to exchange one form of cryptocurrency for another instantaneously. Originally, the company did not collect personal data on its users, or hold any of the currencies in its accounts. An article in the Wall Street Journal published September 28, 2018, entitled “How Dirty Money Disappears into the Black Hole of Cryptocurrency,” alleged that as much as $9 million in illegally obtained funds had been “laundered” through Shapeshift, as part of $88.6 million of fraudulent funds moving through a total of forty-six crypto exchanges; Voorhees refuted the report, maintaining that Shapeshift uses “blockchain forensics” to weed out money launderers and that Wall Street Journal’s reporters didn’t understand the data.
* * *
After being introduced to Bitcoin by the Winklevoss twins, banking heir Matthew Mellon rapidly became one of cryptocurrencies’ biggest advocates, building a massive fortune first in Bitcoin, then in the cryptocurrency XRP—a digital currency developed by the company Ripple in 2012. On April 16, 2018, at the age of fifty-four, Matthew Mellon passed away suddenly on the way to a drug rehab center in Cancun, Mexico, where he hoped to overcome an opioid dependency. At the time of his death, his crypto fortune was valued at somewhere between five hundred million and a billion dollars.
* * *
After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld his conviction and sentence in May 2017, and the Supreme Court declined to consider any further appeal in June 2018, Ross Ulbricht, now thirty-four, is currently serving a double life sentence plus forty years without the possibility of parole for the crimes of money laundering and conspiracy to traffic narcotics by means of the internet. There are many in the Bitcoin and libertarian community—including Roger Ver—who see Ulbricht as a martyr who has been unfairly jailed. Ulbricht will most likely die in prison.
* * *
Charlie Shrem served nearly a year at Lewisberg Federal Penitentiary in Union County, Pennsylvania, after which he was transferred to a halfway house in Harrisburg. While at the halfway house, he washed dishes at a local restaurant. He was released on September 16, 2016. Sadly, Charlie has no contact with his family. He remains friends with Erik Voorhees. Since leaving prison, Charlie’s relationship with the Winklevoss twins has remained unsettled. On November 1, 2018, a federal suit was unsealed accusing Charlie of owing the twins five thousand Bitcoin, which they claim he stole from them in 2012. Charlie has denied the charge, his lawyer Brian Klein telling the New York Times that “nothing could be further from the truth.… Charlie plans to vigorously defend himself and quickly clear his name.” The suit is ongoing.
Almost a year to the day after his release from prison, on September 15, 2017, Charlie married Courtney. Together they’ve made a life for themselves in Sarasota, Florida, which includes time spent on Charlie’s boat. The boat is named The Satoshi.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am immensely grateful to Noah Eaker, Lauren Bittrich, Marlena Bittner, and the entire team at Flatiron Books and Macmillan, who have helped me turn this incredible story into one of the most fulfilling writing experiences of my career; likewise, to Eric Simonoff and Matthew Snyder, agents extraordinaire.
I’m also extremely thankful to my numerous sources, without whom I could not have written this book, and to the group of main characters, who opened themselves up to me and were generous with their time, experiences, and expertise.
As always, I’m thankful to my parents, my brothers and their families, and to Tonya, Asher, Arya, and Bugsy, for putting up with me talking nonstop about Bitcoin for the past year and a half.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bertrand, Natasha. “The FBI staged a lovers’ fight to catch the kingpin of the web’s biggest illegal drug marketplace.” Business Insider, Jan. 22, 2015.
Carlson, Nicholas. “ ‘Embarrassing and Damaging’ Zuckerberg IMs Confirmed By Zuckerberg, The New Yorker.” Business Insider, Sept. 13, 2010.
________. “At last — the full story of how Facebook was founded.” Business Insider, Mar. 5, 2010.
________. “In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg Broke into a Facebook User’s Private Email Account.” Business Insider, Mar. 5, 2010.
Chrisafis, Angelique. “Cyprus bailout: ‘people are panicking, they’re afraid of losing their money.’ ” Guardian, Mar. 17, 2013.
Cutler, Kim-Mai. “Mt. Gox’s Demise Marks the End of Bitcoin’s First Wave of Entrepreneurs.” TechCrunch, Feb. 25, 2014.
Dabilis, Andy. “Bailout Cuts Cyprus Bank Accounts, Withdrawals Barred.” Greek Reporter, Mar. 16, 2013.
Eha, Brian Patrick. “Can Bitcoin’s First Felon Help Make Cryptocurrency a Trillion-Dollar Market?” Fortune, June 26, 2017.
Epstein, Jeremy. “What you may not understand about crypto’s millionaires.” Venture Beat, Feb. 10, 2018.
Forbes, Steve. “Why a Cyprus-Like Seizure of Your Money Could Happen Here.” Forbes, Mar. 25, 2013.
Fox, Emily Jane. “The New York bar that takes bitcoins.” CNN Business, Apr. 8, 2013.
Freeman, Colin. “Cyprus dreams left in tatters.” Telegraph, Mar. 24, 2013.
Frizell, Sam. “How the Feds Nabbed Alleged Silk Road Drug Kingpin ‘Dread Pirate Roberts.’ ” Time, Jan 21, 2015.
Jeffries, Adrianne, and Russell Brandom. “The coin prince: inside Bitcoin’s first big money-laundering scandal.” Verge, Feb. 4, 2014.
Markowitz, Eric. “My Night Out with Bitcoin Millionaire and Proud Stoner Charlie Shrem.” Vocativ, Dec. 5, 2013.
Matthews, Dylan. “Everything you need to know about the Cyprus bailout, in one FAQ.” Washington Post, Mar. 18, 2013.
McMillan, Robert. “The Inside Story of Mt. Gox, Bitcoin’s $460 Million Disaster.” Wired, Mar. 3, 2014.
________. “Ring of Bitcoins: Why your digital wallet belongs on your finger.” Wired, Mar. 18, 2013.
Mibach, Emily. “Last call for The Oasis—beloved Menlo Park pizza, burger, and beer joint closes.” Daily Post, Mar. 8, 2018.
Osborne, Hilary, and Josephine Moulds. “Cyprus bailout deal: at a glance.” Guardian, Mar. 25, 2013.
Popper, Nathaniel. Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money. New York: HarperPaperbacks, 2016.
________. “How the Winklevoss Twins Found Vindication in a Bitcoin Fortune.” New York Times, Dec. 19, 2017.
________. “Never Mind Facebook; Winklevoss Twins Rule in Digital Money.” New York Times, Apr. 11, 2013.
________. “Winklevoss Twins Plan First Fund for Bitcoins.” New York Times, July 1, 2013.
________. “Charlie Shrem and the Ups and Downs of BitInstant.” Coindesk, May 19, 2015.
Roy, Jessica. “It’s All About the Bitcoin, Baby.” Observer, Apr. 30, 2013.
Vargas, Jose Antonio. “The Face of Facebook.” New Yorker, Sept 20, 2010.
Winklevoss, Cameron, and Tyler Winklevoss. “Bitcoin, the Internet of Money.” Value Investor’s Congress presentation. New York, delivered Sept. 17, 2013.
________. “Money is broken; Its f
uture is not.” Money20/20 conference presentation. Las Vegas, NV, delivered Nov. 3, 2014.
ALSO BY BEN MEZRICH
NONFICTION
Bringing Down the House
Ugly Americans
Busting Vegas
Rigged
The Accidental Billionaires
Sex on the Moon
Straight Flush
Once Upon a Time in Russia
The 37th Parallel
Woolly
FICTION
Threshold
Reaper
Fertile Ground
Skeptic (as Holden Scott)
Skin
The Carrier (as Holden Scott)
Seven Wonders
MIDDLE GRADE
Bringing Down the Mouse
Charlie Numbers and the Man in the Moon (with Tonya Mezrich)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BEN MEZRICH has authored twenty books, with a combined printing of more than four million copies, including Bringing Down the House, which spent sixty-three weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. His book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal debuted at #4 on the New York Times bestseller list and hit bestseller lists in more than a dozen countries. The book was adapted into the movie The Social Network, which was nominated for eight Academy Awards and winner of four Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture–Drama. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Author’s Note
ACT ONE
1. Into the Tiger’s Cage
2. Dead in the Water
3. Damaged Goods
4. In the Beginning There Was Foam
5. The Basement
6. Finding Love in a Hopeless Place
7. August 30, 2012
8. Charlie
9. Stepford, Connecticut
10. Buyer’s Market
11. The Reverse Heist
ACT TWO
12. The Spark
13. Bayfront Park, Downtown Miami
14. On the Road Again
15. In the Air
16. The King of Bitcoin
17. The Morning After
18. Bright Lights
19. This Side of Paradise
20. The United Front
21. Behind the Door
22. Bitcoin 2013
23. Going Mainstream
ACT THREE
24. A Pirate’s Tale
25. The Day After
26. The Fall
27. Across Town
28. Men of Harvard
29. Judgment Day
30. Launched
31. From Dumas to Balzac
EPILOGUE: Where Are They Now…?
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Also by Ben Mezrich
About the Author
Copyright
BITCOIN BILLIONAIRES. Copyright © 2019 by Ben Mezrich. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address Flatiron Books, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.flatironbooks.com
Photograph in chapter 20 courtesy of the author
Cover design by Keith Hayes
Cover photograph © bioraven/Shutterstock.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Mezrich, Ben, 1969– author.
Title: Bitcoin billionaires: a true story of genius, betrayal, and redemption / Ben Mezrich.
Description: First edition. | New York: Flatiron Books, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019002977 | ISBN 9781250217745 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781250239389 (international, sold outside the U.S., subject to rights availability) | ISBN 9781250217752 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Winklevoss, Tyler. | Winklevoss, Cameron. | Venture capital. | Bitcoin. | Entrepreneurship.
Classification: LCC HG4751 .M499 2019 | DDC 332.4 [B]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019002977
eISBN 9781250217752
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].
First Edition: May 2019
