Spencer Rascoff, CEO of online real estate database Zillow, has announced to his 20,290 Twitter followers that he is coming round to the idea of bitcoin.
The entrepreneur indicated yesterday that he was gearing up to embrace digital currencies.
Thx to @brian_armstrong for the @coinbase tutorial. I’m reconsidering my skepticism on Bitcoin. cc @SaraEisen
— Spencer Rascoff (@spencerrascoff) March 10, 2014
A tweet today from the Harvard graduate confirmed he had taken the plunge and invested in some bitcoins:
Bought some bitcoin this morning. Buckle up.
— Spencer Rascoff (@spencerrascoff) March 11, 2014
Rascoff joins the growing league of executives who have implied their support of bitcoin, including Virgin Galactic’s Sir Richard Branson, ex-Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya, and most recently, Wikipedia’s co-founder Jimmy Wales.
Just yesterday, Wales tweeted about bitcoin and indicated that he would discuss bitcoin acceptance with board members.
While Rascoff may seem pro-bitcoin now, he appeared on Bloomberg TV last November openly criticising the cryptocurrecy. He said:
“I am sceptical of bitcoin. I just think there’s too much shadiness associated with the currency that’s not maintained by some sort of government or central bank. And I think it will blow up at some point, with some big scandal where someone loses 50, a 100 million dollars, and I don’t think it [bitcoin] is going to be here in five years.”
Jill Simmons, spokesperson for Zillow, told CoinDesk that while Rascoff may be expressing interest in bitcoin, this doesn’t necessarily mean his company is exploring bitcoin acceptance.
“Spencer’s decision to buy bitcoin was a personal one and doesn’t reflect any upcoming policies within Zillow,” she said.
Zillow’s growth
Zillow is a real estate marketplace helping homeowners, buyers and agents to find and share vital information about homes, real estate and mortgages. Founded in 2005, the Zillow website is one of the most-visited real-estate brands in the US.
Between 2005 and 2011, the company raised funding totalling $92.5m with investors including Technology Crossover Ventures and PAR Capital Management. Zillow began trading on NASDAQ Stock Market in July 2011, raising $4.13m in post IPO funding.
Rascoff was named one of America’s most powerful CEOs 40 and Under by Forbes magazine for the last two years. Before taking up his role at Zillow, he co-founded Hotwire.com, a discount travel website.
Spencer Rascoff image via Flickr.