The recent rise in the price of bitcoin shows “people are coming around” to the digital currency, according to investor Tim Draper.
Long one of the ecosystem’s most active investors, Draper is perhaps best known for buying roughly 30,000 BTC as part of the first government auction of the digital currency held in 2014. In keeping with this view, Draper said has continued to buy bitcoin and that he now owns ether, the native cryptocurrency powering the ethereum blockchain.
Draper told CoinDesk:
“Bitcoin will continue to lead because it has become the standard, but ethereum and others will also have an effect on various verticals like smart contracts or bank transfers.”
Two years later, Draper believes the recent increase in the price of bitcoin is due to the fact that more people are now believers in the system like him.
Of note is that with the price hovering above $700, the last few weeks have marked the first time that Draper’s bitcoin holdings would be worth more than he paid, should he have paid at or above market value for the purchase. (The exact buying price is still unknown).
As to how his thesis on the industry has changed during this time, Draper said that he believes bitcoin “will prevail” but that other blockchain systems will become widely used.
Despite a recent slowdown in the number of investments at his VC fund Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Draper said he is eager to invest in more companies, but that the quality of recent applicants has perhaps been lacking.
However, Draper indicated he believes this could soon change, concluding:
“A lot of the early companies were breakthroughs. We should have a new wave of them here soon.”
Image via Draper University