Here Is What 6 Silicon Valley Giants Think About Cryptocurrency

The high-tech industry continues to make active inroads into the blockchain industry, proposing and building new solutions that make Web3 products better and more usable by ordinary people as well as cutting-edge industry participants.

1. Block CEO Jack Dorsey – Bitcoin Bull

Dorsey said that in 2021 at the Crypto Innovation Council’s “The B-Word” conference, on a panel that included Cathie Wood and Elon Musk,

“It's deeply principled, it's weird as hell (and) it's always evolving. It reminded me of the Internet when I was a kid.”

You might say that the founder of social media sites Twitter, Block, and Bluesky is a fan of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. The Silicon Valley kid genius started Block (formerly Square Payments) shortly after founding Twitter.

Furthermore, it bought its payment processing company CashApp and started offering easy and hassle-free Bitcoin custody to users so they can purchase BTC using a credit or debit card on their phone.

Just a few days ago, Twitter Dorsey announced that Block had completed development of its Bitcoin mining chip. It's an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designed at the nanometer hardware level to be optimized for nothing more than Bitcoin mining:

“Our mining chip will use the most advanced semiconductor process currently available and will provide the performance required for mining operators of all types to survive and thrive in the fifth mining era (the period following the final fourth half of block support) and beyond.”

Furthermore, in Block's first-quarter earnings report to investors, a note from Dorsey announced that from now on, the Oakland, California-based company Web3 will invest 10% of profits from all Bitcoin-related operations into purchasing Bitcoin each month.

“Historically and moving forward, our investment in Bitcoin goes beyond technology; It is an investment in a future where economic empowerment is the norm. This commitment drives our business into new territories, opens new opportunities for our customers, and ensures lasting value for you, our shareholders.

“What really drove my thinking and drives my passion is if the Internet had a chance to have a native currency, what would that be? For me, it's bitcoin because of those principles, because of its flexibility,” Dorsey says.

2. PayPal founder Peter Thiel – Cautious Bull

PayPal founder and successful Silicon Valley investor, Peter Thiel, is a member of Web3. His Founders Fund held and sold huge whale-sized tranches of Bitcoin for years. His Thiel Foundation helped launch Ethereum in 2014 with a $100,000 grant to Ethereum inventor and founder Vitalik Buterin.

The price of Bitcoin rose to a minimum of more than $60,000 per coin in February after US Bitcoin ETF issuers got the green light from the Securities and Exchange Commission in January. The last time BTC traded above $60,000, it was Thiel I gave this Cautiously bullish advice while speaking at an event at Bitcoin Mecca in Miami, Florida:

“I don't know that you should be putting all your money into Bitcoin at $60,000 a bitcoin right now. But certainly the fact that it's hitting $60,000 is a very hopeful sign. It's the canary in the coal mine. It's the most honest market we have.” in the country.”

“I feel like I didn't invest in it enough,” Thiel said at a time when every Bitcoin investor felt this way. In the debate over whether investors are still too early or too late for Bitcoin, he said: “I think the answers are still a long way off… Maybe that's still enough of a secret.”

Since 2021, Thiel's Founder's Fund has demonstrated excellent timing for massive entries and exits on and off the Bitcoin blockchain. a company open At the beginning of 2023, I exited a large position in Bitcoin – built up over eight years – before the cryptocurrency market collapsed in 2022 after the price of Bitcoin collapsed. There have been a series of bankruptcies at several major cryptocurrency exchanges and other companies that were unable to efficiently manage the wild market fluctuations of the new currency over a four-year cycle.

Informed sources revealed to Reuters in February this year that the fund had returned around $200 million worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum over the past year.

3. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg – holder of the maximum amount of Bitcoin

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is very busy with Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. But that hasn't stopped him from making forays into blockchain technology and virtual reality headsets, and he even renamed his company Meta to focus on its future in cyberspace.

In fact, Zuckerberg tried to launch a cryptocurrency in 2019 — Libra Coin — that would have added a blockchain-powered payments feature to Facebook, Inc.'s apps. But that did not happen after the main supporters backed down after pressure on Facebook from global regulators to stop the project.

Regardless, the Facebook CEO is a big fan of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. He may also be a Bitcoiner (someone who believes that Bitcoin will be the world's largest reserve currency in the future).

His goat is named Bitcoin and Max.

4. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft – admired but pessimistic

Microsoft founder Bill Gates He said In 2022 he is not optimistic about Bitcoin. “If you have less money than Elon, beware,” he said. However, Gates is also known for his frugality and responsible and considered risk-taking in high technology.

“Elon has a lot of money, and he's very sophisticated, so I'm not worried that his bitcoin will randomly go up or down,” Gates said just before the markets crashed in 2022. “I think people have been drawn into this craze who may not have a lot of money, so I'm not bullish on Bitcoin.”

However, he did once He says “Bitcoin is a technological tour de force,” he says, so he respects the innovative way Bitcoin brings together different internet technologies to create digital scarcity in a world where making copies of digital items is virtually free.

5. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai – Blockchain proponent

“Any time there's innovation, I find it exciting,” Pichai said in response to a question about technology on Alphabet's earnings call in 2022. “I think it's something we want to support as best we can.”

“We're definitely looking at blockchain,” Alphabet's CEO said later that year. “It's an interesting, powerful technology that has wide-ranging applications.”

6. Owner

Musk has been a big supporter of blockchain for years.

In 2021, He saidHe added: “It (cryptocurrency) bypasses currency controls… Paper money disappears. Cryptocurrencies are a much better way to transfer values ​​than a piece of paper, that's for sure.

Musk has always been a big fan of cryptocurrencies, especially Dogecoin. He has called himself the “Doge Father” and often tweets and speaks fondly about Dogecoin. Its recent mention coincided with a 14% rise in Dogecoin's price and market capitalization.