Tim Draper Helped Fund Coinbase — Now He’s Done Being Quiet | by Chip Mahoney | The Capital | May, 2025

Tim Draper has by no means been simply one other billionaire investor.

Whereas most of Silicon Valley was laughing at Bitcoin as a plaything for libertarians and cypherpunks, Draper was quietly betting on its future. Not solely did he amass a private Bitcoin fortune (famously shopping for seized BTC from the U.S. Marshals Service), however he additionally backed Coinbase in its earliest days — the identical Coinbase that might go on to grow to be America’s first publicly traded crypto alternate and a gateway for hundreds of thousands into digital property.

Draper noticed what few others did: Bitcoin wasn’t simply an asset; it was the beginning of an internet-scale monetary revolution.

However over the previous few years, Draper has been unusually quiet.

Whereas Michael Saylor turned a Bitcoin evangelist and Cathie Wooden doubled down on Bitcoin ETF bets, Draper stayed within the background, watching as regulators cracked down, exchanges collapsed, and belief in crypto wavered.

Now? Draper’s finished watching.

This week, he got here out swinging:

“Companies not holding Bitcoin are being irresponsible.”