Billionaire investor Peter Thiel is betting big on bitcoins as the supporter of world's biggest cryptocurrency believes it has the possibility of becoming gold-like safe haven.
The PayPal co-founder Theil compared bitcoin to a digital version of gold and argued that the quest to amass money "is the bubble that never pops."
"I would be long bitcoin, and neutral to skeptical of just about everything else at this point with a few possible exceptions," Thiel said during a conversation Thursday at the Economic Club of New York. "There will be one online equivalent to gold, and the one you'd bet on would be the biggest."
Theil, one of the first investors in Facebook, has backed the idea of bitcoin becoming a store of value instead of a currency used merely for online transactions.
"I'm not talking about a new payments system," Thiel said. "It's like bars of gold in a vault that never move, and it's a sort of hedge of sorts against the whole world going falling apart."
His comments could help revive bitcoin prices, which fell below $8,000 on Thursday to as low as $7,682 - its worst level in nearly five weeks.
Technical traders suggest bitcoin is facing a "death cross" and any further weakness in the cryptocurrency could wipe out nearly three-fourth of its value from February highs.
Theil has purchased $15 million to $20 million worth of cryptocurrencies since mid-2017 through his venture capital firm, Founders Fund, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
But his optimism did not extend to all digital assets such as Ethereum.
"I'm not sure I would encourage people to run out right now and buy these cryptocurrencies," Thiel said.
