Rocker Gene Simmons Makes Crypto Pledge to Cameron Winklevoss

Simmons, who is no stranger to bitcoin, responded to a tweet by Cameron Winklevoss in which the Gemini co-founder challenged the industry to make it easier to buy BTC and ETH. Winklevoss in his Twitter thread identified the biggest headwinds that are facing crypto, and it’s not the DeFi space. He said,

But getting people into this new system is the biggest challenge we face as an industry.

Winklevoss noted that users have an easier time buying bitcoin or ETH using legacy financial systems vs. if they don’t have a bank account at all, in which case “it’s hard to get funds into crypto.” As someone at the helm of a cryptocurrency exchange, he would probably know. The bitcoin billionaire urged the crypto community to change this. Simmons is up for the challenge, responding to Winklevoss’ call to action, “I will. I am.” The KISS legend, who has nearly 900,000 Twitter followers, was mum on the details, however. And whether he just got caught up in the moment is unclear. But the crypto community cheered the fact that he’s an advocate of hard money like bitcoin.

I will. I am. https://t.co/GQJMpDUYCH

— Gene Simmons (@genesimmons) September 15, 2020

Indeed, it’s bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million coins that has become one of its defining features, especially when global central banks have been printing fiat money feverishly. A fresh wave of fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) appears to be building in the air.

Bitcoin shortage is coming soon.

— Yuri de Gaia (@Y_deGaia) September 15, 2020

Rising Demand

Demand for the digital asset has been on the rise of late among institutional and retail investors. For instance, publicly-traded MicroStrategy, which has a market cap of $1.4 billion, revealed on Sept. 14 that it just purchased 16,796 bitcoins. That brings its year-to-date total to 38,250 bitcoins costing $425 million, including fees and expenses.

On September 14, 2020, MicroStrategy completed its acquisition of 16,796 additional bitcoins at an aggregate purchase price of $175 million. To date, we have purchased a total of 38,250 bitcoins at an aggregate purchase price of $425 million, inclusive of fees and expenses.

— Michael Saylor (@michael_saylor) September 15, 2020

And it’s not just the institutions. Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC’s “Mad Money” show, also jumped on the bitcoin bandwagon, telling Cameron’s brother Tyler Winklevoss that he’s scooping some up for his kids to put in a trust for safekeeping.

Another Wall Street legend, @jimcramer is long #Bitcoin. Jim, Paul Tudor Jones, and so many other seasoned investors have figured out that it's your best protection against inflation. Booyah!https://t.co/rUdyZgw7dT

— Tyler Winklevoss (@tyler) September 15, 2020

Deja Vu All Over Again

It’s not Simmons’ first crypto rodeo. As fate would have it, Simmons told TheStreet, founded by newly minted bitcoin bull Jim Cramer, back in 2017 that he was interested in bitcoin “as a piece of the puzzle.” He touted a diversified portfolio, saying that the way to invest is to spread the risk across assets, just as a person would while betting in Las Vegas. He even expressed an interest in a future KISS coin at the time, before the ICO bubble burst. If Simmons has been stacking sats since then, he doesn’t appear to be a risk-averse investor.