Updated (6th December, 6:30 GMT): Updated with commentary from Tim Draper.
Draper Fisher Jurvetson managing director and avid bitcoin enthusiast Tim Draper has once again entered a winning bid in a bitcoin auction held by the US Marshals Service.
However, unlike the first auction, in which he was able to purchase all 29,656 of the auctioned bitcoins, Draper confirmed to CoinDesk that this time he won just one block of 2,000 BTC (worth roughly $750,000 at press time).
In total, 50,000 BTC confiscated from alleged Silk Road ringleader Ross Ulbricht were divided into 10 blocks of 2,000 BTC and 10 blocks of 3,000 BTC for the event. Bidders did not have the ability to view other bids or change bids that they submitted during the auction.
Draper said that Draper Associates will now provide 300 BTC to each startup that graduates Boost VC’s next startup accelerator class as a result of the winning bid. The bitcoin-focused startup accelerator was notably founded by his son, Adam Draper.
“The interesting part is that we are fixing the valuation,” Draper said. “The 300 BTC are worth about $120,000 today, but may be worth quite a bit more, or less, when the entrepreneurs receive them.”
He went on to suggest that he will need to purchase additional bitcoins before Boost VC’s Tribe 5 graduates. Boost has indicated it will likely invest in 15–25 bitcoin startups for the upcoming class, meaning as much as 7,500 BTC could be needed for the initiative.
“I will still need to purchase some bitcoin on the open market to fulfill my obligation to Boost,” he added.
The announcement follows a similar strategy Draper embraced this summer, when at a press conference he announced that the bitcoins won in the initial auction would be used to help bitcoin exchange Mirror serve more global consumers.
The investor is rumoured to have paid above market price for his first batch of bitcoins, though he has declined to disclose the exact figures for either of his winning bids.
Confirmed participants in Thursday’s auction included Binary Financial, Bitcoin Investment Trust, Bitcoins Reserve, Mirror (formerly Vaurum) and Pantera Capital.
The price of bitcoin on the CoinDesk US Bitcoin Price Index was roughly $640 at the time of the first sale, compared to roughly $370 during yesterday’s auction.
Tim Draper image via Dan Cawrey