Peter Thiel was a billionaire venture capitalist and entrepreneur who discussed his journey to build Paypal. He also spoke with David Sacks and Max Levchin in a conversation published March 12, 2022. Toward the end of the hour-long conversation, the topic quickly turned to cryptocurrencies and Thiel stressed that his “biggest mistake” during the last ten years “was getting too late and too little into bitcoin.”
Paypal Co-Founder Peter Thiel Reveals the Biggest Mistake He’s Made in the Last Decade
Last week, the new book dubbed “The Founders” written by Jimmy Soni was discussed at great length during a panel conversation with the co-founders of Paypal. The book called “The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley,” was published last month and the story gives an account of Paypal’s origins.
Callin.com’s March 12 broadcast featured the Paypal founders Peter Thiel and Max Levchin as well as David Sacks and Luke Nosek. Although the majority of conversation is about the Paypal origins topic at the 55.30 mark, discussion shifted to crypto currencies. The host of the discussion managed to squeeze in one more question, as he said “it would not be a tech conversation without a little bit of wild-eyed forward-looking statements.”
The discussion host explained that amid Paypal’s rise, a “whole crypto thing going on” and he highlighted how Peter Thiel has “written and spoken a lot about it.” When asked what the group thinks about “payment systems now and crypto,” Thiel responded. Thiel, the co-founder of Paypal made this observation:
My biggest error in the past decade was investing too much and too late into Bitcoin.
While Thiel Was Super Interested in Bitcoin, He ‘Was Somehow Programmed to Not to See It’
Thiel explained further: “You know, we invested in 2014 in Founders Fund and did reasonably well, but it was on my radar in 2010 and 2011 — We had seen all these crazy cryptocurrency people, at the time at Paypal, it was one of the things that I was actually super interested in and it motivated me, but none of the models quite worked.” Thiel further added:
Bitcoin was a program that I didn’t see as often as I ought to.
The Paypal co-founder’s statements last week are similar to the declarations he made in October. Speaking at a cryptocurrency event in Miami last year, Thiel told participants that he felt like he was “underinvested in [bitcoin].” Speaking further on the benefits of bitcoin in Miami, Thiel stressed that bitcoin was “the canary in the coal mine — It’s the most honest market we have in the country.”
What do you think about the Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel’s statements about bitcoin and his remorse for not getting into it much sooner? Please comment below to let us know your thoughts on this topic.
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