Venture capital firm Peter Thiel reportedly made $1.8 billion closing its crypto positions last year or around the time the initial Bitcoin bulls were still predicting the token price would jump 100 times.

Founders have cashed out almost all of their bets on digital assets in March 2022, according to a Financial Times report citing people familiar with the matter.

Quoted Yahoo Finance, Friday (20/1/23) however, Thiel still supports Bitcoin when speaking at a crypto conference in Miami the following month.

“We are at the end of the fiat money regime,” he said. He added that the price of the token could increase 100 times from its current level of $44,000.

Also read: Today’s Crypto Market: Bitcoin Holds Strong Above $21,000, FTX Congress Talks

That prediction proved wrong as rising interest rates and the failures of high-profile companies such as Celsius Network, Three Arrows Capital, and FTX dragged the crypto sector into a prolonged slump. Bitcoin plunged more than 60% in 2022 and was trading under $17,000 at the end of the year.

Founders Fund first started pouring money into crypto in 2014 when bitcoin was trading around $750. By the time bitcoin hit an all-time high in November 2021, it had surged 8,500% from that level.

Thiel has a long track record as one of Silicon Valley’s leading technology investors. He took early stakes in startups including Facebook, Elon Musk’s SpaceX and online transportation app Lyft, and co-founded PayPal in 1998.

Thiel is also a staunch supporter of the Republican Party and has continued to voice his support for Donald Trump since the former president left office in January 2021.