When Jack first spotted Bubble Mart, his mentor Tim Draper was already positioning himself for the "Bankless Era."

Original Title: "Bubble Mart Angel Investor Ma Gang's 'Enlightenment', Silicon Valley VC Father Tim Draper's Bet on Bitcoin and the Next Era"

The explosive rise of the trendy toy brand Bubble Mart has once again made its first angel investor, Ma Gang, the focus of market discussion. In the summer of 2012, Ma Gang invested in the company just five days after meeting Bubble Mart's founder, Wang Ning. As Bubble Mart's first angel investor, Ma Gang witnessed its journey from a simple residence in Beijing to a listing in Hong Kong.

In fact, Ma Gang's "vision" was partly influenced by his "enlightener" during his early years of studying in the United States—Silicon Valley's well-known venture capitalist Tim Draper. Ma Gang ventured into China's venture capital industry in 1998, co-founded Shanghai Pudong Ke Chuang, then studied in the US, won first place in an entrepreneurship competition at UCLA, and thus crossed paths with Silicon Valley's venture capital godfather Tim Draper, leading him into the Silicon Valley venture capital industry. In 2005, he co-founded VenturesLab with Tim Draper.

Tim Draper is hailed as the "father of venture capital." The projects he has invested in have driven some of the most innovative developments in today's market, including Skype, Baidu, Hotmail, Tesla, and Tim Draper is also an early and staunch believer in Bitcoin.

Family Legacy and Silicon Valley DNA: The Continuation of a Third-Generation Investor

Draper hails from a family with a background in venture capital and politics, being the third generation of this family. His father was the founder of Draper & Johnson Investment Company and formerly served as Chairman and President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. In 1994, Draper's father returned to the investment field from public office and co-founded Draper International with others, the first US VC fund dedicated to investing in Indian companies.

Meanwhile, Tim Draper's grandfather, William Henry Draper Jr., founded the venture capital firm Draper, Gaither, and Anderson in 1958, establishing the basic rules of today's VC industry, including management fees and post-exit project sharing. Draper's grandfather also served as the US's first Ambassador to NATO.

Coming from a family with a background in both finance and politics, Draper early on demonstrated a unique perspective. He attended Phillips Academy Andover before moving on to Stanford University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1980. In 1984, he also received an MBA from Harvard Business School.

In 1985, Tim Draper founded Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), which later expanded to include various entrepreneurship and startup education platforms such as Draper Venture Network and Draper University.

Some of Tim Draper's most well-known investment projects include Baidu, Hotmail, Skype, Tesla, SpaceX, AngelList, Twitter, Coinbase, Robinhood, and Twitch.

During a period when foreign capital was generally withdrawing from China in the early 2000s, Draper chose to stay and ultimately successfully invested in Baidu through DFJ. He was also one of the earliest Silicon Valley figures to enter the Chinese venture capital industry. In 2005, he co-founded VenturesLab with Wang Gang and others, becoming a key player in the Chinese entrepreneurial ecosystem. In the crypto field, VenturesLab also became an angel investor in OKX.

In 2018, the prominent university Draper University founded by Tim Draper established a base in Beijing's Zhongguancun through a training camp called dCamp in China to cultivate blockchain talent, attracting many crypto OGs.

Draper has also invested in some early-stage crypto projects such as Ethereum, Coinbase, Ledger, Bancor, Arkham, Ark, Merzo, and Propy.

Encountering Bitcoin: From 40,000 Bitcoins "Disappearing" to Ardent Believer

Today, Tim Draper's investment footprint in the crypto field is ubiquitous. However, compared to his involvement from 2014 to 2020, Tim Draper's recent years in crypto investments have not been as active, with his public appearances mainly focused on promoting Bitcoin.

Tim Draper's interest in Bitcoin began in 2011, just two years after Bitcoin's inception. He met CoinLab founder Peter Vincennes through investor Joel Yarmon. CoinLab later became an innovative company and miner focused on Bitcoin, as well as being the U.S. partner for the then-largest exchange Mt. Gox. The concept sounded a bit far-fetched at the time, but he was very intrigued and made a small investment in the company. Draper then asked if he could help him buy $250,000 worth of Bitcoin. At that time, the price of Bitcoin was around $6 per coin. Peter helped him buy some, which were stored at Mt. Gox. Peter also mentioned that he would use some of the money to buy ASIC high-speed mining chips from mining manufacturer Butterfly Labs to mine more Bitcoin at a lower cost.

Two events then conspired to cause the disappearance of approximately 40,000 bitcoins that were supposed to be his. First, the mining chips were delayed. Butterfly Labs did not deliver the chips to Peter as promised but instead used them to mine bitcoins for several months before eventually shipping them. During these months, more miners entered the market, significantly reducing the probability of mining bitcoins. By the time Peter finally received the chips, Draper and his partners had missed the optimal mining window. To make matters worse, Peter stored the bitcoins he mined in a wallet controlled by Mt. Gox, and these bitcoins ultimately vanished along with Mt. Gox, making him one of the largest creditors of the Mt. Gox collapse.

However, this loss did not deter Draper's confidence. Instead, it fueled his respect for the resilience of the Bitcoin system. Despite a significant theft, Bitcoin only dropped by about 20% and continued to be actively traded.

Draper realized that the demand for this new digital currency was so strong that even in the face of a massive theft, it could still thrive and potentially provide us with a new way of transacting, storing value, and transferring funds. The societal demand for Bitcoin was so intense that people were willing to tolerate major mistakes and fraud just to have a frictionless, globally accepted monetary system.

In 2014, the U.S. Marshals Service confiscated bitcoins from the Silk Road and decided to auction off over 30,000 of them. Draper saw this as an opportunity to make up for his loss. A total of 31 bidders participated, and each bidder could bid in nine blocks (each containing about 4,000 bitcoins). At the time, the market price of Bitcoin was $618 per coin. At the last moment, Draper decided to bid above market price at $632 per coin and ended up winning all nine blocks.

Draper soon realized that he could do something meaningful with these bitcoins, such as promoting Bitcoin adoption in developing countries. In these nations, there is a widespread lack of confidence in the local currency, often due to governments printing money recklessly, leading to increased corruption and worsening inflation. To make matters worse, many low-income individuals in these countries are excluded by banks, deemed "unbankable." These are the roughly 3 billion "unbanked" individuals globally, and Bitcoin could be their solution.

Prediction: Bitcoin to Hit $250,000 by 2025, "Bitcoin Will Replace the Dollar"

In Tim Draper's view, the advantages of Bitcoin are very clear:

1) It is a globally usable currency that does not require government intervention;

2) It is a way to store value without the need for storing precious metals or art;

3) It is a frictionless currency that can automatically circulate based on contracts without the need for lawyer or accountant interpretation and intervention.

He believes that Bitcoin and its underlying blockchain technology are the engines driving human progress. The United States wisely did not regulate the internet initially, allowing a large number of internet entrepreneurs to establish themselves in the U.S., eventually leading to the prosperity of the internet economy. Today, if a similar "light-touch" strategy can be adopted for Bitcoin regulation, it will continue to attract innovators to stay in the U.S.

In May this year, within a few weeks, Tim Draper repeatedly stated that the dollar is rapidly becoming worthless and advocated for Bitcoin as an alternative. He once again reiterated this point in perhaps the most straightforward manner. "The dollar is heading for extinction," he said on social platform X, "As the dollar depreciates, people will rush to spend it." In contrast, Draper believes people will turn to Bitcoin for security.

"Retailers will soon prefer Bitcoin," he said, "When this happens, people will start using Bitcoin for spending." His latest statement is a response to the ongoing debate by Bitcoin financial services company Swan on whether Bitcoin is ultimately a store of value or a medium of exchange.

Draper believes that the widespread adoption of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange may occur sooner. He told CoinDesk in May that he expects Bitcoin to replace the dollar as the global reserve currency within 10 years. At that time, he even predicted that Bitcoin will be "infinitely more valuable than the dollar." However, in the short term, he predicts that Bitcoin will reach $250,000 in 2025.

One of the reasons Draper is becoming increasingly pessimistic about the dollar is because the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) has not performed well this year, reflecting a decline in market confidence in the dollar. He pointed out that the weakness of the U.S. Dollar Index is related to global concerns about President Trump's trade policies.

Investment Philosophy: Cycle Set at 5 to 10 Years, Passion Over Data

As a venture capitalist, Draper has also summarized his six core investment principles in a recent interview:

Do not invest too much early in a single company: Draper has seen one of the biggest mistakes many investors make is "putting too much money into a few companies at the very beginning... Don't put in as much as you 'think you want to invest' because you are very likely to run out of money later on." He advises to invest only half to one-sixth of the amount you originally intended, as it is very likely that this company will need further financing later. When the company is doing well, you want to make sure you still have funds to continue supporting and encouraging these "winners."

Investment Horizon Set to 5 to 10 Years: Some investments require a long time to mature, so he cautions against getting stuck in projects with overly long cycles. His advice is: "I wouldn't think too far out... You should be thinking in the 5- to 10-year range."

Don't Project Your Entrepreneurial Experience onto Others: If you are a successful entrepreneur and are now investing in others, it's easy to impose your own experiences and personality on those seeking funding. He warns, saying, "You might initially think, 'Hey, if I can do it, so can others.' You'll start throwing money around carelessly. You'll think everyone is like you, capable of doing what you've done. But reality is different. You need to calm down and truly consider whether this person is really willing to make the sacrifices for success that you once did."

Focus on Mission, Not Money: In the early stages of investment, never make 'how much money can I make' your starting point. Draper says, "If you start off thinking 'I can make money from this'... you might as well not do it. You should invest for the mission. If you can really identify with the other person's mission and say, 'I love this mission, I love the way it's going to change the world, then I'm willing to join in,' that kind of investment is healthier."

Investment Looks at 'Passion,' Not 'Data': During a funding pitch, there was a moment when an entrepreneur started showing him those financial models, and Draper appeared somewhat indifferent and uninterested. The entrepreneur thought he might be losing this potential investor. After a halftime break, he and his partners adjusted their strategy, returned to the meeting room, and began sincerely discussing our dissatisfaction with the industry's current situation and the transformation our company hoped to bring. When I later mentioned this experience, Draper responded, saying, "You may have hit the mark. I'm looking for passion."

Conclusion

Today, as Bitcoin is still sometimes questioned as a 'bubble,' Tim Draper has already gone 'all in'; as mainstream capital still cautiously watches Web3, he has been nurturing talent for the next era, building infrastructure, and investing in visionaries. He does not see himself as a speculator but as a driver of change. Perhaps in the eyes of Matt Chang, a Bubble Mart investor, Draper is not just an enlightener but also someone who 'ignites a spark in the capital winter.' His actions continue to ferment. Whether Bitcoin will truly replace the dollar cannot be asserted, but one thing is certain: Tim Draper has put all his chips on the table for that possible world.

Original Article Link