Winklevoss twins on crypto’s allure for the ETF world

Before entering Gemini’s Manhattan offices, visitors are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Such heavy-handed security is rare outside Silicon Valley, but paranoia over leaked corporate secrets is perhaps understandable given the experiences of the two men I have come to meet.

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have competed in the Olympics and feature in numerous business books, but are best known for their lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly taking their idea for a social network that would become Facebook. They settled in 2008 for $65m — half of which they took as Facebook stock.

The identical twins ploughed their proceeds into the cryptocurrency market and aspire to create the world’s first bitcoin exchange traded fund, undaunted by knock-backs from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The 6ft 5in former rowers are physically imposing, even in the company’s airy boardroom where we meet. Unlike their preppy image in the Oscar-winning film The…