Billionaires Who Have Invested In Bitcoin

Bitcoin has helped many people grow their wealth, especially those who got in on the ground floor. The anonymous developer of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, is rumoured to hold more than 1 million bitcoins, which would make them one of the richest people in the world. But who are the billionaires who have invested in Bitcoin?

Elon Musk's Bitcoin Holdings

Elon Musk, the billionaire tech mogul and former CEO of Dogecoin, has a variety of business interests, including Tesla and SpaceX. Musk has also shown an interest in cryptocurrencies, specifically Bitcoin and Dogecoin.

Personal Holdings

In 2019, Musk revealed that he owned 0.25 Bitcoins, which were gifted to him by a friend. As of May 2020, Musk had not accumulated any more Bitcoin, reiterating his modest holdings to author JK Rowling.

Tesla Holdings

Tesla, led by Musk, invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin in February 2021, acquiring around 43,000 tokens. The company also announced it would begin accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment. However, in the subsequent months, Tesla sold a significant portion of its holdings. As of Q4 2023, Tesla's Bitcoin holdings were valued at $387 million, with 9,720 BTC held, making it the third-largest public holder of Bitcoin.

SpaceX Holdings

SpaceX, another Musk-led company, also holds a significant amount of Bitcoin. As of March 2024, it was estimated that SpaceX held approximately $555 million in Bitcoin, with a profit of $132 million on its BTC holdings.

Total Holdings

Combining the holdings of Musk's companies, Tesla and SpaceX, their Bitcoin investments were valued at over $1 billion as of March 2024. This suggests that the extent of their Bitcoin investments may have been previously underestimated.

Mark Cuban's Bitcoin Investment

Mark Cuban, the billionaire investor, entrepreneur, and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has had a well-publicised change of heart regarding Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In 2019, Cuban famously stated that he would ""rather have bananas than Bitcoin". However, as of 2024, he is now a self-proclaimed crypto "evangelist" with a portfolio of various digital coins, NFTs, and investments in blockchain companies.

Cuban's interest in crypto was sparked by his minting of his first non-fungible token (NFT). NFTs are unique digital assets that are represented on the blockchain, allowing owners to prove ownership and sell the token. The opportunity to earn royalties on secondary sales of NFTs was a significant draw for Cuban. Through his exploration of NFTs, he discovered smart contracts, which are collections of code that execute instructions on the blockchain. Smart contracts are essential for NFTs and other crypto projects, such as decentralised finance (DeFi) applications. Cuban considers smart contracts to be "very disruptive".

Cuban's Bitcoin journey began due to a partnership between the Dallas Mavericks and Bitcoin processor Bitpay. In an interview on the Pomp Podcast, Cuban revealed that he owns around $130 worth of Bitcoin, which was brought in through this partnership. Despite his initial cynicism, Cuban has since made a strategic investment in Injective, a decentralised crypto exchange. Injective's token price has surged by 1,100% in the last year.

Cuban has also made bullish predictions about the future of Bitcoin. He has stated that if the US dollar declines as the global reserve currency, Bitcoin could become a "safe haven" and a "global currency". He points to the limited supply of Bitcoin and the global market as reasons for its potential to become a safe haven asset. Cuban's enthusiasm for Bitcoin and crypto is further demonstrated by his praise for California's plan to digitise 42 million car titles using blockchain technology, which he called "an amazing step forward for crypto".

Paul Tudor Jones' Bitcoin Advocacy

Paul Tudor Jones, the Wall Street legend, has been a Bitcoin advocate since 2020. In May of that year, he revealed that he had invested 1-2% of his portfolio in Bitcoin, which was worth almost 2 BTC at the time. Jones has praised Bitcoin as a hedge against coronavirus-led inflation, comparing it to the gold trade in the 1970s.

In a letter to shareholders, Jones wrote:

> I am not a hard-money nor a crypto nut. At the end of the day, the best profit-maximizing strategy is to own the fastest horse… If I am forced to forecast, my bet is it will be Bitcoin.

Jones has continued to express his bullish stance on Bitcoin, citing the "cataclysmic" fiscal situation in the U.S., the likelihood of a recession, and new geopolitical turmoil abroad as reasons for its increasing attractiveness as an investment option. He believes that assets like Bitcoin and gold could take on a bigger role in investors' portfolios, especially given the Federal Reserve's inflation-fighting rate hikes.

In October 2023, Jones reiterated his support for Bitcoin, stating that he still holds a small amount and will always keep it as a small diversification. He praised Bitcoin as "the only thing humans can't adjust the supply of," highlighting its scarcity and potential value as a hedge against inflation.

Winklevoss Twins' Bitcoin Wealth

Winklevoss Twins Bitcoin Wealth

The Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron, are early investors in Bitcoin and cofounders of the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini. They gained their wealth from a lawsuit against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, claiming he stole their idea for the social networking site. In 2012, they took the settlement money and invested $11 million directly into Bitcoin. They are said to own one percent of all Bitcoins in existence, with their net worth fluctuating according to Bitcoin's price.

The twins became Bitcoin's first billionaires in 2017 when Bitcoin soared to a record high. They lost this status when the currency's value plummeted, but they have since regained it thanks to a surge in Bitcoin's price. As of 2021, Forbes estimates each twin's net worth to be around $1.4 billion in digital assets.

The Winklevoss twins are known for their unique and secure method of storing their Bitcoin wealth. They created several new Bitcoin wallets and used complex code to split up the private keys or passwords to these wallets. They then printed out the keys on multiple bits of paper and placed them in different safety deposit boxes across the United States. This strategy ensures that even if one key is compromised, the others remain secure.

The twins' approach to security has attracted investors to their exchange platform, Gemini. The platform is one of the few first certified and regulated cryptocurrency exchanges in the world and is known for its robust security architecture.

Tim Draper's BTC Purchase

Tim Draper is a third-generation American venture capitalist and investor. He is the founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), Draper University, Draper Venture Network, and Draper Associates. Draper has a history of investing in cutting-edge technology, and in 2014, he made headlines for purchasing seized bitcoins from the Silk Road website at a US Marshals Service auction.

On June 27, 2014, Draper purchased 29,656 bitcoins (some sources state 30,000) that had been confiscated from the Silk Road by the US Marshals. He paid about $19 million for the bitcoins, which equates to approximately $632 per coin. This move demonstrated Draper's early recognition of the potential of Bitcoin and decentralized finance.

Draper has since become a prominent supporter of Bitcoin and blockchain technology, investing in over 50 cryptocurrency-related companies. He has led investments in Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange; Ledger, a cryptocurrency wallet maker; and Tezos, an open-source blockchain platform. Draper's early investment in Bitcoin has paid off significantly, as the value of his crypto holdings has appreciated substantially.

In addition to his crypto investments, Draper has a diverse investment portfolio, including companies such as Hotmail, Baidu, Skype, Tesla, SpaceX, and Robinhood. He is known for his ability to identify emerging companies with high growth potential and has a reputation for making successful investments.

Draper's net worth is estimated to be around $1 billion, with a significant portion of his wealth attributed to his cryptocurrency holdings. His optimistic outlook on Bitcoin and its potential as a mainstream currency has made him a notable figure in the world of cryptocurrency.

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