Peter Thiel's Massive Bitcoin Bet Sends Values Surging

Bitcoin is already surging in price to start 2018, and one particular notorious Silicon Valley mega-investor is likely behind it. Peter Thiel has reportedly decided bitcoin is at least as intriguing an investment as harvesting the blood of the young, resurrecting wooly mammoths, and supporting Donald Trump.

A Wall Street Journal story published Tuesday reports that the Thiel-backed venture capital firm Founders Fund holds hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of the blockchain-based cryptocurrency. Thiel’s controversial record — which also includes bankrolling the destruction of Gawker and ethically dubious herpes research — has made him Silicon Valley’s most polarizing figure, but his investment track record is strong enough that news of his bet on bitcoin was enough to send its value soaring once again.

Founders Firm is the most mainstream investor yet to have its bet on bitcoin revealed. It comes after weeks in which bitcoin’s meteoric rise had seen significant reversals, with the cryptocurrency nearing highs of $20,000 before losing nearly half its value. That volatility — as well as South Korea’s late December announcement it would begin more stringently regulating cryptocurrency transactions — is part of why Wall Street has kept the skyrocketing asset at arm’s length. Thiel’s move may be sufficient spark to change the calculus for other potential investors.

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