Billionaire Investor Tim Draper Predicts Bitcoin Bull Market, Says ‘Controlling’ Government ‘Killing the Golden Goose’ in Silicon Valley

Tim Draper in his signature Bitcoin tie. Diarmuid Greene—Getty Images

In Silicon Valley, Tim Draper is venture capital royalty. A third-generation investor, Draper was an early backer of some of the most pivotal technology to come out of California, from Hotmail to Skype. In recent years, his focus has been on Bitcoin and the broader ethos of decentralization, famously paying $19 million for 30,000 Bitcoin in 2014 seized in the US government’s takedown of the dark web marketplace Silk Road.

While some of his bets haven’t paid off — including an investment in Theranos and repeated predictions that Bitcoin will hit $250,000 — he continues to chip in with the pioneering cryptocurrency. In an interview with FortuneDraper said he expects Bitcoin to increase in value amid economic uncertainty in the United States

“If the bears get that angry where the banks start falling apart, that actually means Bitcoin will have a bull market,” he said Fortune. “There will be a raging bull in the midst of the bear.”

Bitcoin is currently at just under $29,000. It is up nearly 75% since the start of 2023, among major US banks Signature, Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic.

Draper’s support for Bitcoin does not extend to the entire crypto ecosystem. While he supported cutting-edge projects such as the Tezos blockchain, he said he is wary of companies that are too centralized. Draper said he twice turned down an investment opportunity in Sam Bankman-Fried’s now-failed exchange FTX, claiming there was no use for its proprietary token, FTT, other than speculation.

As FTX surged in popularity in 2021 and 2022, Draper said he thought he had missed something, but was vindicated in November when the company collapsed in spectacular fashion.

“I just thought it was a race to the bottom,” Draper said of CeFi, or centralized finance, companies like FTX.

His concern now is with crypto regulation, as lawmakers debate legislation to establish guardrails for the industry and agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission target firms with enforcement actions. Draper said that when he talks to startups in the room, they ask him about regulation, which had never been the case before.

“If they regulate by enforcement, they just crack down on people and fine them and sue them,” he said Fortune. “I don’t want to waste years of my life in court trying to avoid trouble.”

Draper, who has advocated splitting California into six states, said the only solution is to have a new political party govern.

“This is as controlling as the American government has ever been,” he said. “They’re destroying the business, they’re killing the golden goose, and Silicon Valley is collapsing because of it.”