Being Only Pro-Blockchain is an Anti-Bitcoin Approach, PayPal CEO Peter Thiel Says

The Bitcoin 2022 conference, which takes place in Miami, has been giving a lot to talk about. On this occasion, Peter Thiel voiced his opinion on Bitcoin’s enemies and talked about where he thinks Bitcoin is going in the future.

This April 7, Peter Andreas Thiel, an entrepreneur, investment fund manager, and venture capitalist, best known for co-founding Paypal alongside Elon Musk, said that being only pro-blockchain is an anti-bitcoin stance in itself.

Thiel pointed out that many investors, entrepreneurs, and bankers, such as Larry Fink, only supported blockchain technology but turned a blind eye to the opportunities and benefits Bitcoin has to offer.

Bitcoin and The Rocky Road Towards Recognition

Bitcoin’s path to global adoption has not exactly been smooth. It has been associated with crime, political anarchism, and financial volatility. It has also taken many hits from politicians and business people trying to stop its growth.

Thiel referred to Buffett as “the sociopathic grandfather of Omaha,” claiming that he has been perhaps the most sincere bitcoin critic primarily because of how difficult it would be for him to put aside all his investments and focus only on the world’s largest cryptocurrency.

“And of course, there’s always a sense if you’re a money manager, you want to pretend that it’s complicated to invest. And if all you have to do is buy Bitcoin, that’s ridiculous. All these people are out of business. There’s a version that’s also with gold. They never like gold either, because if all you had to do is own gold, that’s something everybody can do”.

Peter Thiel Has a Problem With the “Blockchain yes, Bitcoin no” Stan

Little by little, all that negativity towards Bitcoin has been changing on the part of the big investors. Buffet once referred to Bitcoin as “rat poison squared;” however, he swallowed his words in 2022 after divesting part of his Visa and Mastercard shares to invest in a bitcoin-friendly neobank.

Thiel pointed out that it is illogical for these investors and bankers to support blockchain technology and not bitcoin, which is the first cryptocurrency to use the technology to keep a transparent and traceable record of all its transactions.

“Pro blockchain is an anti Bitcoin term. Very typically. So it’s like, I love the blockchain, but not so sure about this. Bitcoin. Don’t need Bitcoin. We can move on to the blockchain. Move along. This is not the currency you’re looking for.”

Why is Gold Still King?

Since the 1970s, gold has been doing very well as a store of value because, at the time, bonds and cash were not good for much, and people considered stocks to be a sort of “crappy investment.”

Because of that, gold reached a valuation of $12 trillion, while Bitcoin is just shy of a trillion. So even though BTC is not doing badly at all, according to Thiel, its immediate competitor is the stock market, as Bitcoin’s price is still strongly correlated with it.

However, as Thiel mentions, Bitcoin “is always the most honest market in the world” and even “the most efficient.” Hence, it still has a long road before achieving the global adoption that Satoshi Nakamoto dreamed of.

Thiel’s words in this regard are poetic:

“And it was the Canary in the coal mine. It was telling us that the inflation was coming in the last two years as it went from $5,000 – $6,000, up by a factor of 10X. It is telling us that the central banks are bankrupt, that we are at the end of the Fiat money regime, and that’s sort of what it has priced in.