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Bitcoin investor Tim Draper believes the cryptocurrency is primed for an epic turnaround. His billionaire status depends on it.<\/p>\n
Roger Kisby\/redux<\/small>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\nVenture capitalist Tim Draper thinks cryptocurrency is going to go up more than 10-fold by the end of 2023. He isn\u2019t the only crypto mogul whistling in the dark.<\/h2>\n
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D<\/abbr>uring an interview with Forbes <\/em>in January this year, the venture capitalist Tim Draper offered an ambitious prediction: Bitcoin would hit a whopping $250,000 within a year. At the time, Bitcoin was worth about $41,000.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the year it’s gonna happen,\u201d insisted Draper, who paid $18.7 million at a U.S. Marshals Service auction in 2014 for his stash of around 30,000 bitcoins (yes, that\u2019s $623 per Bitcoin). \u201cBy the end of this year\u2014or early next year.\u201d<\/p>\n Suffice it to say that Draper\u2019s prediction isn\u2019t panning out. Bitcoin has lost more than half of its value since the start of the year, plunging from $47,000 on New Year\u2019s day to around $20,000. He is one of four crypto moguls who are no longer billionaires thanks to the digital currency crash. But Draper isn\u2019t backing off. Reached over email, Draper reiterated his price target. \u201cI am more convinced than ever that it is happening,\u201d he said. \u201cBy late 2022 or early 2023.\u201d <\/p>\n Since early March, these eleven people have lost the most money in crypto\u2014an aggregate of $61 billion over the last three months. Only seven are still billionaires. <\/em><\/p>\n Fred Ehrsam, cofounder and former president of crypto exchange Coinbase, insists the market meltdown is nothing more than growing pains. \u201cOne thing most people don’t fully grasp: it takes years, often decades, to go from a new infrastructure-level technology breakthrough (like crypto) to a vibrant ecosystem of mainstream applications,\u201d tweeted<\/a> Ehrsam earlier this week. The 34-year-old computer whiz is now worth an estimated $900 million, down from $2.1 billion in March. <\/p>\n One reason Ehrsam may have a cool head: His fortune includes around $367 million in post-tax cash proceeds from sales of Coinbase stock, which he unloaded last year at an average price of $316 a share (Coinbase is currently trading at about $52 per share). Ehrsam seems to see the market collapse as a buying opportunity: He bought $77 million of Coinbase stock on behalf of his crypto venture capital and investment firm, Paradigm Capital, in May, for between $60 and $73 per share.<\/p>\n Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the Bitcoin investors, twin brothers and founders of crypto trading firm Gemini, have also seen their fortunes fall, from an estimated $4 billion in March to $3.2 billion now. They laid off 10% of Gemini\u2019s staff on June 2, citing<\/a> the \u201ccrypto winter.\u201d But they haven\u2019t let the market implosion cramp their style. Their throwback rock band, Mars Junction<\/a>, is currently on tour in California and in early June, the twins were videotaped at a bar in Asbury Park, New Jersey singing<\/a> Journey\u2019s Don\u2019t Stop Believin\u2019 about a week after they\u2019d announced Gemini\u2019s layoffs. As of press time, tickets for Mars Junction\u2019s show in Berkeley tonight are $15 each. <\/p>\n While the Winklevoss twins are playing rock star, Sam Bankman-Fried, the richest person in crypto, is going for a different role: Industry Savior. Earlier this week, the mop-headed 30-year-old founder of trading juggernaut FTX extended huge loans to embattled crypto companies: $250 million to crypto lender BlockFi and nearly $500 million (including $300 million in Bitcoin, of course) to brokerage Voyager Digital. \u201cWe take our duty seriously to protect the digital asset ecosystem and its customers,\u201d he tweeted<\/a>. Bankman-Fried\u2019s estimated fortune has only dipped a few billion dollars since March, from $24 billion to $20 billion, mostly thanks to FTX\u2019s $32 billion valuation<\/a> from its last funding round in January. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, crypto\u2019s former richest person<\/a> Changpeng Zhao (or \u201cCZ\u201d), founder and CEO of Binance, the world\u2019s largest crypto exchange, is in a tongue-in-cheek mood. \u201cI am most bullish in bear markets 😂,\u201d he tweeted<\/a> on Thursday, which was followed immediately by a second post: \u201cNot financial advice.\u201d That may have been a joke, but CZ has good reason to offer such disclosures: The S.E.C. has opened a probe into Binance\u2019s initial coin offering, Bloomberg <\/em>reported<\/a> earlier this month. CZ\u2019s company is also under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Internal Revenue Service (Neither Binance nor CZ has been charged by any U.S. authorities). <\/p>\n The Winklevoss twins are some of Bitcoin’s largest investors. <\/p>\n Michael prince for forbes<\/small> Among crypto\u2019s billionaires, Zhao is the biggest loser, in percentage and dollar terms, since March 11. Then, CZ\u2019s estimated fortune of $65 billion made him the 19th richest person in the world<\/a>. Today, he is worth an estimated $18.7 billion. Not that he cares in the slightest. \u201cI don’t really know what my net worth is. I\u2019m not too bothered about it,\u201d he told Forbes <\/em>last summer. <\/p>\n Michael Saylor, a true Bitcoin believer whose software company Microstrategy has spent about $4 billion on Bitcoin investments in the last few years, has taken a different approach: going on the offensive. The 57-year-old software entrepreneur has been bombarding Twitter with bullish posts, and made recent television appearances on CNN<\/em><\/a>, Fox Business<\/em><\/a> <\/em>and Bloomberg<\/em><\/a>, where he shrugged off concerns about his company\u2019s balance sheet. In March, MicroStrategy borrowed <\/a>$205 million against its own Bitcoin, to buy \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 more Bitcoin.<\/p>\n Saylor is now another ex-billionaire, Forbes <\/em>estimates, worth a little over $700 million. MicroStrategy\u2019s stock is down 56% since early March, compared to the Nasdaq index\u2019s 14% dip over the same period. But Saylor hasn\u2019t sold any of his precious Bitcoin\u2014\u201cnot a satoshi\u201d, he told CNN <\/em>anchor Julia Chatterley this week, invoking a little-known term for Bitcoin\u2019s smallest unit. (One satoshi is worth 0.00000001 BTC.) <\/p>\n \u201cBitcoin is going to outlast all of us,\u201d Saylor insisted. \u201cI\u2019m quite sure of that.\u201d <\/p>\n
\nEasy Come, Easy Go<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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