Always One In The Crowd

In every notable time period of change in humanity, there are certain people with influence steering or guiding society. Big personalities and brilliant thinkers rise to fame and make their mark in the history books. Even in this highly technological age, businesses are excited about what blockchain technology and cryptocurrency have to offer. So who are the people that have a dramatic impact? Who are the lasting voices of crypto? There are many! Let’s focus in on Timothy Draper.



Tim Draper, Venture Capitalist

Tim Draper, a Harvard alumnus, is a successful venture capital investor and respected entrepreneur. In 2013, he launched Draper University of Heroes to educate ambitious entrepreneurs on how to raise capital for startup companies. After becoming financially successful with his firm Venture Capitalism, Draper launched into crypto-fame after purchasing 30,000 bitcoin seized by the US Marshals from a Silk Road bust and auctioned off to the public. At the time, the bitcoin purchase was valued at $19 million.



Draper is now an influential player in the Bitcoin investment community. He has become a well-known advocate for cryptocurrency and has gained a reputation for leading blockchain initiatives around the world.



Bitcoin Price Prediction



In September 2014, Tim Draper famously predicted that bitcoin would reach $10,000 within three years. After bitcoin price plunged in early 2015, Draper purchased $400,000 of the cryptocurrency. His prediction nearly came true, as Bitcoin reached $10,000 in November 2017. His prediction was off by two months. Although Bitcoin still faces scalability issues, Draper predicts that it will reach $250,000 by 2022. What’s his rationale for such an opinion? As Draper states,



I believe cryptocurrencies will overtake fiat currencies in the next five to seven years. I expect that since cryptocurrencies will increase the velocity of money, the current $86 trillion global market for currency will grow to be about $140 trillion in the next 10 years, and that growth will be in crypto. In fact, I estimate that fiat currencies will actually decrease in use, and that crypto will become as much as $100 trillion of that market. I expect Bitcoin to be about 10% of that market, or $10 trillion. There is a lot of room to grow there.



Other cryptos will grow and surprise us. Entrepreneurs have a way of surprising everybody. I believe that in about four years there will be a big change when people start paying in cryptocurrency. It used to be the case that the Bitcoin block was too slow to make small transactions, so it was better as a store of value. But what is happening is that as time goes on, more technologies make it easier for us to use. We have had the introduction of Lightening, Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold, and I think what eventually will happen is that these cryptocurrencies will be more ubiquitous as engineers continue to make them faster and more useful.

If he had his way, Draper would have the US make Bitcoin legal tender (Japan has already made it a legal method of payment) and lightly regulate ICOS. Not surprisingly, he firmly believes that the days of centralized currency are numbered. He believes Bitcoin will rise based on the network effect (the more people who have Bitcoin, the more it will spread). Moreover, he believes this network effect will affect Bitcoin’s price, “Right now there are 40 million Bitcoin wallets. I think that this number will continue to grow and the value of Bitcoin will be determined by the square of that.”

California Ballot Initiative

In 2018, Tim Draper collected 600,000 signatures for a petition to divide California into three new states. Although not expected to pass, the idea generated substantial media attention in 2018. Unfortunately, California’s Supreme Court stopped his initiative from appearing on the state ballot, arguing that “significant questions have been raised regarding the proposition’s validity.”



Rap Star Draper?