Peter Thiel’s ‘Biggest Mistake’: ‘Getting Too Late and Too Little Into Bitcoin’

The “worst mistake” he made in the last decade, according to German-American billionaire entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel, was “getting too late and too little into Bitcoin.”

Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, was the first outside investment in Facebook, according to Wikipedia, and he was placed 276th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with an estimated net worth of $8.36 billion as of March 28, 2022.

Peter Thiel Regrets Not Investing In crypto

Thiel commented on the emergence of crypto during a panel discussion on the recently published book “The Founders: The Tale of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley,” which follows the story of Paypal and its influence on Silicon Valley.

This topic was discussed in a recent edition of “The Pull Request” podcast (published on March 12).

Thiel, who co-founded Paypal with Elon Musk, Max Levchin, Luke Nosek, Yu Pan, and a slew of other “Paypal Mafia” members, has written and talked about the impact of cryptocurrency multiple times.

Thiel was asked what he thought about modern payment systems and the implications of crypto assets by the panel’s host.

Thiel went on to add that Bitcoin was on his mind in 2010 and 2011. During his tenure at Paypal, he acknowledged seeing “all these crazy cryptocurrency folks,” and he was “very excited” and motivated by the new technology.

However, he said at the time that none of the models functioned, resulting in a blind spot about the industry’s future.

Conclusion

Thiel has previously lamented on being late to Bitcoin and crypto-assets. Speaking at a crypto event in Miami last year, the billionaire told participants that he felt like was “underinvested in [Bitcoin],” and that BTC represented the “most honest market we have in the country.”

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