Betting on decentralized currencies: Tim Draper

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Billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper stuck to his prediction that Bitcoin would hit $250,000 in 2023 despite the turmoil in the crypto world. In an interview with DHs Shakshi Jain, he talked about everything from crypto adoption in India to his company’s expansion plans. Edited excerpts.

How do you see the cryptocurrency space unfolding this year?

I have a prediction and its $250,000 (Bitcoin price) by the end of June this year. I’d love to stretch that, but I want to get right or wrong on that one first.

When do you think women hold a bigger share of cryptocurrencies?

When the retail (industry) realizes that they can save 2% on paying the banks right now by accepting bitcoin in the retail stores, then they will share that with the consumer and then the women will go – ah! I can save 2% just by paying in bitcoin. So, I think there are some technical steps that need to happen to get us there, but it’s coming.

Some of the biggest crypto players went bankrupt in 2022. What advice would you give to people looking to invest in cryptocurrencies?

FTX and BlockFi, they were all centralized finance I think. Centralize finance – why would you do that? You already have that. You have (a) government, they have central banks – they are centralized. Why would we buy any of these products? FTX came twice, BlockFi came once or twice – we turned them all down because centralized finance was first and foremost easy to do. Everyone was doing it. We must have seen 200 companies get away with some form of centralized financing. That does not make sense. You have a decentralized opportunity – you have bitcoin, maybe you have Tezos, you have a few others that are all decentralized. Why not go with that, it’s so much more important for our future. My advice would be to get out of centralized currencies and into decentralized currencies. Very clear.

What do you think of the Indian government taking a rather cautious approach towards cryptocurrencies?

Any government is made up of a lot of people. There are people who say we want to encourage bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and those are the honest ones. And then there are the less honest who say we have to get rid of it. Well, they are the ones who are afraid that the blockchain will keep perfect records and they will get caught.

What are your prospects for cryptocurrency adoption in India?

I think it’s going to be one of those things that as soon as a person really starts saying – okay, Bitcoins will be the future – then it’ll start spreading, then two more, then four more, then eight more, and it’s just starting to spread. In India, it will increase very rapidly when it does.

What cryptocurrencies are you betting on this year?

I’m all for bitcoin. I don’t like that Ethereum is somehow centralized because one guy can print a bunch of it and burn a bunch of it, so I don’t like that part. I like that it is a good sandbox. I like Tezos because they are really decentralized and they might end up experimenting with new forms of government.

What is your vision of Indian startups?

I think the bear market in India is going to be a blip – It won’t be a big blip. In the United States, I think it’s going to be a big problem. Because India is growing at 7% a year and the energy here is very fast and (the) population is young, lots of good energy, good entrepreneurial activity, I think it will probably be fine. But I think the money will not be so easy to find. So raising funds is going to be difficult.

Tell us about your expansion plans this year.

We now have Draper startup homes in approximately 25 cities (worldwide) and plan to grow to 50 this year. We have one in Hyderabad. Were also expanding Meet the Drapers – we have distribution relationships in many new countries. It will be a difficult year and next year will be an excellent year for investments.

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