Billionaire Tim Draper: Bitcoin ‘A Good Hedge Against Bad Governance’

Draper also reiterated his prediction that Bitcoin will hit $250,000—and argued that women will drive the next wave of adoption.

By Stephen Graves

Tim Draper has long been a proponent of crypto and Bitcoin. Image: Stephen Graves/Decrypt.

The bear market doesn’t appear to have dented Bitcoin bull Tim Draper’s enthusiasm for the cryptocurrency. 

Speaking on stage at Web Summit 2022, the billionaire VC argued that his prediction that the cryptocurrency will hit $250,000 still holds—though he’s “extended it by six months.”

Sporting one of his Bitcoin ties, Draper argued that “by mid-2023, I’m expecting to see Bitcoin hit $250,000.” 

“You're seeing inflation, they're fighting inflation, you're seeing bad governance,” he said, noting that he regards Bitcoin as “a hedge against bad governance, and we seem to have a lot of that going on.” 

Governments, he said, seem to want to control everybody now,” he added, pointing to “the stupid guy in Russia who's decided to invade Ukraine or the stupid guy in China who's trying to control all of his population.”

“You saw the speculation go out of the Bitcoin price,” said Draper, adding that only the Bitcoin “hodlers” are left. “They are passionate about this,” he said. “And they say, ‘Hey, this creates a freer world, it creates a more trusting world. It's honest currency; it's not tied to banks, it's not tied to governments. And it is decentralized.’”

The future of Bitcoin is female

Draper argued that the next wave of Bitcoin adoption—and the accompanying price surge—will be driven by women. 

“With Bitcoin, the women are going to be the ones who take it to $250,000,” he said. “And the reason is that women control about 80% of retail spending, and you can't really buy your food, clothing, and shelter yet in Bitcoin—but once you can, then there will be no reason to hold on to fiat currency, and there’ll be sort of a run on the banks.”

Draper also had some choice words for fans of Ethereum, which he described as “kind of centralized,” adding that  “they keep printing more of it.”

"That doesn't work as well as Bitcoin—that is, there are only 21 million, that’s how many there will be,” he said.

Overall, the billionaire appears to be enjoying the downturn. “This actually is my favorite time to be investing,” said Draper. “I get nervous in bull markets; bear markets are kind of my thing.”