PayPal Co-Founder Peter Theil Goes Long on Bitcoin, Says It Will be 'One Online Equivalent to Gold’

Even though the Bitcoin price erosion continues in the market, there are some supporters who are still willing to hold their guns. One of the biggest Bitcoin supporters is popular global personality, Peter Theil, the PayPal co-founder, who has recently endorsed the cryptocurrency calling it similar to being the digital equivalent of Gold.

During a conversation at the Economic Club of New York last week, Peter Theil said that he doesn’t consider Bitcoin as a means of payment but rather a store of value. Theil said: "I would be long bitcoin, and neutral to skeptical of just about everything else at this point with a few possible exceptions. There will be one online equivalent to gold, and the one you'd bet on would be the biggest.”

Theil further mentioned that it would be too cumbersome to use Bitcoin as a go-to currency used for daily transactions He said: "I'm not talking about a new payments system. It’s like bars of gold in a vault that never move, and it's a sort of hedge of sorts against the whole world going falling apart.”

Despite his claims of backing the cryptocurrency, Theil said that the odds of Bitcoin ending up being worthless could be 50 to 80 percent, with 20 to 50 percent chance that it ends up moving higher. He also said that there a big chance that other digital currencies like Ethereum end up beating Bitcoin with many other altcoins having better features.

But Theil clearly mentioned that Bitcoin’s appeal is in its size. Today, Bitcoin alone contributes to 42 percent of the overall cryptocurrency market cap and the second being Ethereum with 19 percent share. Theil said "Probability weighted it's good, and the question of how to time this I'm not going to try to do that precisely.”

While talking to FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo, Theil said that the value of both Bitcoin and traditional money is decided by society and hence it can be stable, even if it contains bubble like features. Theil said: “[Bitcoin] may well be a bubble and most bubbles are unstable…There is this sort of bubble like aspect to money, but it’s one that can be quite stable. So even if bitcoin is bubble like, that doesn’t necessarily rebut it in this core use case for store value.”

Earlier this year, Founders Fund which is run by Peter Theil is said to have bought Bitcoin worth nearly $15-$20 million. While sighting people familiar with the matter, WSJ then reported: “Founders Fund, a venture-capital firm co-founded by Peter Thiel, has amassed hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of the volatile cryptocurrency.”