Blake Masters’ Bitcoin investments took off in 2022

Bitcoin evangelist and Republican Senate hopeful Blake Masters has invested millions in a wide variety of cryptocurrencies. But according to recent financial records seen by The VergeMasters’ own digital investments have apparently declined in value over the past year’s cryptocurrency crash.

Masters, a protégé of billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel, disclosed a dozen different investments in various cryptocurrencies and platforms in a personal finance filing last week. As of August 15, Masters owned between $600,000 and $1.2 million in Bitcoin alone, a dramatic drop from the $1.1 to $5.2 million he claimed in financial disclosures last year. Masters did not disclose any significant profit from his Bitcoin investment, suggesting a reduction in overall value rather than a potential sale.

Among Master’s current holdings are investments in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Filecoin, Litecoin and Tezos. Filecoin and Tezos were the only cryptocurrencies that Masters reported earned “interest” from the past year, claiming to have earned between $1,001 to $2,500 each.

While some cryptocurrencies have begun to stabilize and regain value since June lows, Master’s own Bitcoin declines are consistent with the broader crash in cryptocurrency prices over the past year. Bitcoin is still down 60 percent as of August 2021, while Masters’ second-largest holding Ethereum has lost more than half of its market value (Masters’ Ethereum value range of $250,000-$500,000 did not change year-over-year).

Masters’ campaign did not confirm whether his assets had declined in value, but suggested they had The Verge on Monday that he used his cryptocurrency investments to borrow money for his campaign. Masters only reported between $100,001 and $250,000 in loans as part of his annual filing last week. A spokesperson for his campaign did not immediately respond to questions from The Verge.

Masters also disclosed more than $300,000 in royalties from books from Zero to oneThe Silicon Valley startup guide that the Trump-endorsed candidate co-wrote with Thiel in 2014.

When a candidate formally announces that they are seeking public office, they are required to file public financial disclosures for each year of the campaign. Although the disclosures do not require specific investment totals, candidates must provide an estimated range for the value of significant asset investments, including digital assets such as cryptocurrency.

For Masters, who is running to unseat Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly (D), cryptocurrency proliferation and federal adoption have become a key part of his campaign platform. Just before the markets began to crash last fall, Masters tweeted that the US government should “buy a strategic reserve of Bitcoin”, comparing it to “Fort Nakamoto” or “the new Fort Knox”. Masters has also offered NFTs to people who have contributed a maximum of $5,800 to his campaign and claims that his campaign accepts donations in Bitcoin.

In a May Fox Business interview with Maria Bartiromo, Masters suggested that Bitcoin’s caveat value would only be temporary.

“It’s not like it’s just crypto crashing, right? Unfortunately, everything crashes,” Masters said in the interview. “But it’s true, crypto is extraordinarily volatile. I always tell people to just get involved, just buy Bitcoin if you’re ready to buckle up and weather the storm because this is the Wild West.”