One year ago, a single bitcoin would cost you around $10,000. As of this writing, the cost for one bitcoin is around $45,000. Looking back to 2014, you could have purchased a single bitcoin for just $400. The significance of 2014 comes from the actions of investor Tim Draper, who bought a substantial batch of Bitcoins at an auction held by the U.S. Marshals Service. These bitcoins were previously confiscated from Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road. Reflecting on this investment, one could confidently say it has turned out quite well for Mr. Draper!
Tim Draper, a prominent figure in the venture capital world, founded Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which is based in California. He hails from a lineage of venture capitalists; his father, William Henry Draper III, known as Bill Draper, established the Draper & Johnson Investment Company in 1962 and played a significant role as the chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Bill was also an early investor in Skype, which was sold to eBay for $4.1 billion, highlighting the family's strong ties to successful investments.
Tim has had his share of successes in ventures such as Hotmail, Baidu, and Tesla. He was an early believer in cryptocurrency, famously purchasing around 41,000 bitcoins when the price was merely $6 each, totaling an investment of $250,000. If he still held those coins today, they would be worth over $1.8 billion! Despite facing a setback in 2014 when the Mt. Gox exchange collapsed, resulting in significant losses, Draper remained undeterred and re-entered the bitcoin market.
Ross Ulbricht and the Silk Road Saga
We cannot discuss this topic without mentioning Ross Ulbricht. He was arrested by the FBI in October 2013 and convicted for being the mastermind behind Silk Road, a dark web marketplace for illegal goods and services. At just 29 years old at the time of his arrest, he is now serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in a federal prison in Arizona.
As the creator of Silk Road, Ross earned a commission from every transaction on his website, which ranged from drug sales to weapons purchases and even murder-for-hire services. During its operation, Silk Road processed an estimated $9 billion in transactions, allowing Ulbricht to accumulate a staggering collection of bitcoin, totaling 144,000 bitcoins. When he was arrested, the worth of his bitcoin stash was around $25 million, calculated based on a trading price of about $180 per bitcoin.
In mid-2014, the U.S. Marshals Service organized an auction for 30,000 bitcoins that had belonged to Ulbricht. Tim Draper participated alongside 44 other bidders in a competitive 12-hour auction. The bitcoins were divided into multiple blocks, and ultimately, Draper emerged as the winner, acquiring all ten blocks for a total of $19 million.
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His investment proved to be remarkably astute. Draper's confidence in bitcoin was evident when he predicted the price would exceed $10,000, a prediction validated in November 2017. He has even more ambitious forecasts, stating, "I think Bitcoin in 2022 or the beginning of 2023 will hit $250,000. I believe this is because Bitcoin will become the currency of choice." As of now, Draper still holds those 29,657 bitcoins, which have skyrocketed in value, totaling an impressive worth of over $1.3 billion. This is an incredible return on his $19 million investment!
As the story unfolds, we can only hope Ross Ulbricht never escapes from prison, as that would add another twist to this already intriguing narrative.
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