Bitcoin will grow to $ 250 thousand and will take 5% of the total share of the global economy

An influential venture investor, the head of Draper Associates and one of the early followers of bitcoin, Tim Draper is known to many thanks to his repeated statements that in the next few years the price of the first cryptocurrency will grow to at least $250,000. Not all of these predictions are ready to take on faith, but Draper himself is convinced at least that the future is for bitcoin, which will inevitably displace traditional Fiat currencies.

And if this kind of prediction can to some extent be considered a kind of publicity stunt designed to attract more attention to his person, in terms of business merit and achievements of Tim Draper, few question.

The successor of the family business Empire, which was created in the 1950s by his grandfather William, Tim Draper is one of the pioneers in the field of cryptocurrencies. At the same time, he became famous not only as one of the early major buyers of bitcoin, but also as an influential investor: thanks to his financial support, many well-known companies received a start in life. Among them are the exchange Coinbase, the manufacturer of hardware wallets Ledger, bancor platform, blockchain startups Factom and Tezos, as well as bitcoin processing OpenNode. He also helped his son Adam with the launch of the well-known venture company Boost VC.

In addition, the 60-year-old entrepreneur is known for investing in projects outside the crypto industry, such as Skype, Hotmail, Tesla, SpaceX, Indiegogo, Tripping, Twitch, Upbeat and many others.

Nevertheless, a significant part of the professional life of Tim Draper is occupied by cryptocurrencies. In an exclusive interview, Tim Draper told what is behind his famous forecast about the price of bitcoin, what he thinks about cryptocurrencies focused on increased privacy of users, as well as what criteria he is guided by when choosing the next project for investment.

Journalist: Hello, Tim! Now everyone is interested in when the bearish trend in the market will end. What your forecast?

Tim Draper: My only prediction is about the price of bitcoin — $250,000 by 2022 or 2023. It is difficult for me to predict how bitcoin will go to this, what UPS and downs are waiting for it along the way.

Journalist: do you think the next bullran will be as powerful and impressive as it was at the end of 2017?

Tim Draper: I suspect the next bullran will be long and steady because bitcoin is becoming a stable and significant part of people's commercial lives.

Journalist: what fundamental factors influence the price of bitcoin the most today?

Tim Draper: it's a market. Of course, there are certain manipulations on the part of banks and other parties that would like to see bitcoin fall, but there are also new reasons to buy cryptocurrency before it goes up again. Among them are solutions and products such as Lightning Network and OpenNode, which allow us to use bitcoin to freely and easily buy and sell goods and services.

Journalist: Since you mentioned Lightning Network... in recent months you can see the rapid growth of this network, and this means that more and more transactions occur off-chain. Does it affect the price?

Tim Draper: Yes, I'm guessing that the combination of Lightning Network and OpenNode will give us more options, and that will raise the demand for bitcoin.

Journalist: how does the traditional stock market correlate with the price of bitcoin?

Tim Draper: I didn't notice any particular correlation. However, it is interesting that every time any country faces a financial crisis, bitcoin is growing. We have seen this in Cyprus, Greece and other countries.

Therefore, the bear market can be quite good for bitcoin: experiencing a crisis of confidence, people will look for an alternative to political currencies like the dollar and the peso. This also means a positive scenario in the bull market: when people have enough money to invest, they are more likely to try new things.

Journalist: the next expected round of bitcoin growth is often associated with the arrival of institutional investors, who, however, listen carefully to regulators. And the latter are not interested in efforts to increase anonymity (Confidential Transactions, CoinJoin and others). How can events evolve in the light of these characteristics?

Tim Draper: I think anything that's anonymous now will eventually become transparent. I think we are entering a stage where transparency and globalism will be at the head of everything, and secrecy and strict regulation on the part of the authorities will disappear.

Journalist: In this case, what is the future of so-called anonymous cryptocurrencies like Monero and Zcash? And again, efforts in this direction do not stop, as evidenced by the emergence of new projects Grin and Beam.

Tim Draper: I Repeat: the anonymous cryptocurrency will eventually become transparent. It is very difficult to maintain anonymity on a permanent and strong blockchain. As for Grin and Beam, these projects look very promising. Especially a lot of enthusiasm now observed around a Grin.

Journalist: You often say that by 2022 the bitcoin will be worth $250 000. How exactly did you come to these figures? Is there some secret formula we don't know about?

Tim Draper: There's nothing secret here, and I think anyone can figure it out. $250,000 means bitcoin's capitalization will be around $5 trillion. This is about 5% of the total share of the global economy. It is likely that some market share will be taken by other currencies, and there will also be resisting all "Luddites" who will cling to political Fiat currencies.

Journalist: it is no secret that there are a lot of manipulations in the cryptocurrency space, and some statements about the price of bitcoin can be misleading. Do you think a public person should be held responsible for his or her false statements?

Tim Draper: I believe in freedom. Freedom of speech cuts both ways. If someone is lying, people will figure it out quickly. If someone is telling the truth, freedom of speech will give that person more influence. Anyway, whether it's opinion or forecast, private decision everyone must take for himself.

Journalist: you and your son Adam are known as one of the early cryptocurrency investors. Recently, however, on hearing more, investors such as Mike Novogratz, Barry Silbert with its Digital Currency Group and others. What is happening in your country and what projects have you supported recently?

Tim Draper: quite a lot: Handshake, Keep, Gun, OpenNode, Credo, DataWallet.

Journalist: What criteria do you follow when choosing a startup for investment?

Tim Draper: the size of the market and General dynamics. Technological diversity. And most importantly — dedication, drive, intelligence and enthusiasm of people.

Journalist: if we look at your portfolio, can we single out one project and say that it was the best investment to date?

Tim Draper: speaking of cryptocurrencies, you bet I think Tezos. This, of course, not to mention bitcoin, which itself has shown good results. Also note Coinbase and Ledger. Outside of cryptocurrencies, I would single out Skype, Baidu, Hotmail, Tesla, Robinhood, Carta, PTC, and many other projects.

Journalist: what are the unique challenges faced by cryptocurrency startups compared to companies that operate in more traditional markets?

Tim Draper: Cryptocurrencies are decentralized and global. At the same time, crypto-startups, to be competitive, need to conduct operations from countries with the most favorable regulation. This applies, however, to all companies, it is simply more obvious for cryptocurrencies.

Journalist:what does the cryptocurrency space need to avoid situations like what is happening around QuadrigaCX?

Tim Draper: I think it all comes down to the people who manage the transactions and their motivation. I also think that this problem will be solved with the release of new versions of the Ledger hardware wallet, after which the trust problem will not be so acute.

Journalist: Not so long ago you said that if someone uses Fiat in five years, that person will be laughed at. However, we see all these painful attempts to run bitcoin ETFs, see how long it takes the SEC to make one simple decision... and against this background, such a sharp turn in people's minds seems unlikely. Why do you believe it will happen?

Tim Draper: Because I'm convinced that the same SEC, however slow and clumsy it may be, will also come to the right decision. After that, we, the us residents, will be able to use cryptocurrencies in the same way as it is already happening in Japan, Malta or Gibraltar.