Billionaire investor Peter Thiel reportedly cashed out big on crypto last year. The Founders Fund, a venture capital firm co-founded by Thiel, made its initial investment in Bitcoin
in early 2014 when the flagship crypto was trading at around $700. This was followed by large investments in crypto, however, the bulk of the crypto exposure was to Bitcoin. Crypto investments became one of the fund’s core positions.According to a report by Financial Times, the 8-year-long crypto bet made by Thiel’s Founders Fund was wound down towards the end of March 2022. This included the majority of the fund’s exposure to the crypto portfolio. This sale came just a month before the crypto contagion of 2022 that started in May. The fund netted a whopping $1.8 billion from this sale.
Interestingly, Peter Thiel said in April 2022 that he was optimistic about the future of Bitcoin. The billionaire investor had suggested that BTC, which was worth around $44,000 at the time, could rise by 100 times. These comments came just days after his fund had sold its Bitcoin.
The sale of the Founders Fund’s crypto portfolio has not previously been reported. People familiar with the matter told FT that as of now, the fund has no significant exposure to crypto assets. The fund currently has more than $11 billion under management and has invested
in popular companies like SpaceX and Lyft.