PayPal founder has bet big this year
PayPal co-founder and a Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel has made his latest investment -- Bitcoin. Starting in mid-2017, venture capital firms he founded began to bet on the cryptocurrency, according to the WSJ.
His funds purchased around $15-$20 million of Bitcoin that is now said to be worth 'hundreds of millions' according to the report. It's not clear if he's sold any.
The math on that one is tough to square. Bitcoin is up about 430% since June so a $20 million investment would be worth around $86 million. That's a tremendous investment, but not 'hundreds of millions'. He would have had to bought all $20 million by the end of April for it to be worth that much.
In any case, that's not what matters here.
What matters is that Thiel founded PayPal, which is undoubtedly the world's top way to send and receive money and he believes in Bitcoin. That's a major feather in the cap of the cryptocurrency and it's responded with a bit rally above $14,000.
Still, while the investment has exploded, this $10n-15m bet in a +$3 billion fund isn't quite an 'all-in' play. What can you say? The guy knows how to pick winners.
