Sources: Peter Thiel's Founders Fund sold most of its crypto portfolio by the end of March 2022, before the crypto market crash, generating ~$1.8B in returns
Billionaire was early mainstream investor in the digital currency but VC fund no longer has significant exposure
Financial Times
Context & Ripple Effects
Founders Fund's crypto exit closes a loop that started with its $15-$20M bitcoin purchase spread across multiple funds, reported in early 2018 when the stake was already worth hundreds of millions. Selling most of it by end of March 2022 — before the crash — turned one of venture's earliest mainstream crypto bets into roughly $1.8B of realized returns.
The timing matters because the firm did not stay out: per later reporting, it bought $100M each in bitcoin and ether from late summer to early fall 2023, re-entering after the drawdown. The exit-and-rebuy sequence now sits alongside the firm's fundraising arc, which runs from its $1.3B sixth fund in 2016 to the $6B later-stage vehicle it raised more recently.
First-order effects
Limited partners across the multiple funds that held the bitcoin position locked in roughly $1.8B in realized gains before the 2022 crash erased much of the asset class's value — paper wealth converted to distributable cash at the cycle top.
Founders Fund ends 2022 with no significant crypto exposure, freeing balance-sheet capacity and partner attention away from digital assets.
Second-order effects
The 2023 repurchase shows the exit was cyclical, not a permanent departure: the firm redeployed into bitcoin and ether at post-crash prices, effectively trading the position rather than holding it through the drawdown like many corporate and fund treasuries that absorbed the losses.
Rival VC funds that held crypto through 2022 face an uncomfortable comparison against a peer that realized near the top — raising the bar for how general partners justify mark-to-market crypto stakes to their own LPs.
Third-order effects
If the sell-high/rebuy-low pattern holds, crypto inside venture portfolios shifts from a permanent strategic allocation to a tactically traded position, with the firms that time entries and exits capturing returns while passive holders bear the cycle risk.
Realized gains of this size feeding into successive, ever-larger flagship funds reinforce the concentration of venture capital in a small set of firms able to compound early wins into later-stage scale.
The trend: Venture funds are increasingly treating crypto as a cycle-traded position — realizing at peaks, re-entering after drawdowns — rather than a permanent treasury allocation.
FT Exclusive: Founders Fund, the venture capital firm co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, closed almost all of its eight-year bet on cryptocurrencies shortly before the market began to crash last year, generating about $1.8bn in returns https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.c…
@eghosao
Eghosa Omoigui on x
Thiel doesn't always get the timing right but when he does, grand slam! 'FF's shift on crypto, which had been one of its core positions, was one of about nine big exits the venture fund made between 2020 & the end of last yr that allowed it to return roughly $13b to investors.' h…
@brianbrackeen
Brian Brackeen on x
This is hard. Really hard. When way up, most people have a bias and want to keep playing with “house money”. Resist it. You see the numbers and trends.... Sell it all at the top for your LP's. Removing bias of all types from investing is how you print money for your investors. ht…
@chafkin
Max Chafkin on x
One big takeaway for me while reporting my book is that Thiel cares less about ideas and more about money than his fans (and enemies) realize. He's done this kind of this many times in his career. https://twitter.com/...
@spencerjakab
Spencer Jakab on x
So let me get this straight - Thiel was calling Warren Buffett a “sociopathic Grandpa” for shunning Bitcoin he was dumping billions on his unwitting fans. This is what psychologists call"projection" https://www.ft.com/...
@sub8u
@sub8u on x
The more things change, the more they remain the same 🤷♂️ “Founders Fund, the VC firm co-founded by Peter Thiel, closed almost all of its 8-year bet on cryptocurrencies shortly before the market began to crash last year, generating ~$1.8bn in returns.” https://www.ft.com/... htt…
@thebenschmark
@thebenschmark on x
Elite grifter dumping his bags to populist jabronis https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@wublockchain
Wu Blockchain on x
According to FT, Founders Fund, co-founded by Peter Thiel, sold its holdings of crypto (mainly bitcoin) at the end of March last year when the price of bitcoin was around $45,000, bringing about $1.8 billion return. https://www.ft.com/...
@counternotions
Kontra on x
He pumps! He dumps! https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@carnage4life
Dare Obasanjo on x
Just before the crash last year, Peter Thiel sold most of his crypto after HODLing for 8 years and netted $1.8B in returns. “If you're playing a poker game and you look around the table and and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you.” - Paul Newman https://www.ft.com/...
@chafkin
Max Chafkin on x
Wrote about this in my book at some length, but as distasteful as it might be to BTC believers it's totally in character. https://twitter.com/...
@patrickmcgee_
Patrick McGee on x
“In April, about the time Founders Fund sold out of most of its crypto, Thiel said he was optimistic about the future of bitcoin: “we're at the end of the fiat money regime.” He suggested its price could increase by a factor of 100.” @Tabby_Kinder https://www.ft.com/...
@rajit_h
Rajit Hewagama on x
'In April 2022, [when] Founders Fund sold out of most of its cryptocurrency holdings, Thiel said he was optimistic about the future of bitcoin. He told a cryptocurrency conference in Miami that “we're at the end of the fiat money regime"' 😂 https://www.ft.com/...
Sold to you, suckas! https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@conroyforreal
Chris Conroy on x
Cryptocurrency Is And Always Has Been A Pyramid Scheme Being Pump-And-Dumped By Smart Money And Your Role Is To Be The Dumb Money vs No It Isn't https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@zeynep
Zeynep Tufekci on x
So who's holding bag, right? Proclaim end of “fiat money regime” and predict a 100x increase in price while actually selling — before the crash. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@hasufl
@hasufl on x
So, Peter Thiel sold Bitcoin at the top after holding it for 8 years. That's so impressive, to be able to do that after holding it for so long https://twitter.com/...
@chafkin
Max Chafkin on x
Quite the scoop: Thiel was dumping bitcoin while he was pumping it https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@aservais1
Alain Servais on x
The big whale didn't get caught-Founders Fund, the venture capital firm co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, closed almost all of its 8-year bet on cryptocurrencies shortly before the market began to crash last year, generating about $1.8bn in returns. https://www.ft.com/...
@emmahaslett
Emma Haslett on x
This story is particularly special because it was Thiel who helped to fund the Seasteading Institute, which partly inspired the Satoshi, the cruise ship that was supposed to provide a utopian community for crypto fans https://www.ft.com/...
@techwontsaveus
@techwontsaveus on x
Peter Thiel's Founders Fund liquidated the majority of its Bitcoin holdings by March 2022, making $1.8 billion before crypto crashed. In April 2022, he was still pumping Bitcoin at the Miami conference, saying “we're at the end of the fiat money regime.” https://www.ft.com/...
@mdudas
Mike Dudas on x
“Founders Fund, the venture capital firm co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, closed almost all of its eight-year bet on cryptocurrencies shortly before the market began to crash last year, generating about $1.8bn in returns.” https://www.ft.com/...
@librariancap
@librariancap on x
Peter Thiel & $BTC: “In Apr '22, about the same time Founders Fund sold out of most of its crypto. holdings, Thiel said he was optimistic about the future of bitcoin (and) said JPM CEO Jamie Dimon & BlackRock boss Larry Fink ‘need to be allocating some of their money to bitcoin’”…