Peter Thiel's Power Game: From PayPal Godfather to Behind-the-Scenes Player in the Encryption Industry

Peter Thiel, hailed as the godfather of PayPal, is one of the most controversial investors in Silicon Valley. With his forward-looking vision, he has become an influential behind-the-scenes player in the industry by investing early in Bitcoin and laying out plans for major crypto enterprises. (Background: Peter Thiel's exchange Bullish applied for listing on the New York Stock Exchange, stock code BLSH, with Bitcoin trading volume ranking in the top five globally.) (Supplementary background: Palantir founder Peter Thiel acquired a 9.1% stake in BitMine, betting on Ethereum.) The American-listed mining company BitMine has attracted widespread market attention for becoming the world's largest institutional Ether holder. With the revelation of on-chain data, there has been a new round of discussions about the role and influence of institutions in crypto asset allocation. Besides the BitMine chairman Tom Lee, who always grabs media attention for his bullish stance on ETH, another name has been frequently mentioned behind this wave of enthusiasm—Peter Thiel (Peter Thiel). As one of the most controversial and forward-looking investors in Silicon Valley, Thiel showed interest in the potential of Bitcoin and Decentralization early on and has placed multiple bets in the crypto industry through his funds. Thiel's investment trajectory not only reflects his judgment on future technological trends but has also shaped the landscape of today's crypto market to some extent. The Godfather of PayPal If one were to find a central figure in the story of the infamous "PayPal Mafia," the "godfather" Peter Thiel (Peter Thiel) would clearly be the most fitting. In 1998, Thiel co-founded Fieldlink with Max Levchin (Max Levchin), Luke Nosek (Luke Nosek), and others, which was later renamed Confinity. Due to the lack of commercial success in its handheld device security software, the company quickly shifted focus to digital wallets, launching the first version of the PayPal electronic payment system in 1999. In March 2000, Confinity merged with the online financial services company X.com, founded by Elon Musk (Elon Musk) and others, and officially changed its name to PayPal in June 2001. In 2002, eBay announced it would acquire this newly listed company for approximately $1.5 billion in an all-stock transaction, and Peter Thiel, as co-founder and first CEO, made his first significant leap in wealth. Thiel and Musk After the sale of PayPal, members of the "PayPal Mafia" dispersed throughout Silicon Valley, sparking a new wave of entrepreneurship and investment. Among them, Thiel's $500,000 convertible bond investment in Facebook in 2004 is often seen as one of the most representative early investments in Silicon Valley. At that time, Facebook was valued at only $4.9 million, and as Facebook's first external investor, Thiel acquired a 10.2% stake and joined the company's board. After Facebook went public in 2012, Thiel gradually cashed out over $1.1 billion. In fact, as early as 1996, Thiel began his venture capital career. At that time, he raised $1 million with the support of family and friends and invested $100,000 in a web calendar project by his friend Luke Nosek, which ended in failure. Subsequently, on the advice of Luke's friend Max Levchin, they partnered to create a cryptography-related company, Fieldlink, which later transformed into PayPal. After years of exploration in Silicon Valley and successfully investing in Facebook, Thiel began to reshape his investment vehicle and philosophy. In 2005, he co-founded Founders Fund with Luke Nosek and other old partners, initially focusing on defense-related startups and technologies. Thiel's own data company, Palantir, founded in 2003, also rapidly grew to become one of the key data infrastructure providers for the U.S. government and large institutions, focusing on counter-terrorism and anti-fraud as its early landing scenarios. Palantir's stock price has risen 20 times in the past five years, earning it the title of a legitimate national fortune stock. After achieving significant financial success with Facebook, Founders Fund shifted its focus to hard technology, aiming to support startups with the potential to "elevate civilization to a new height." In addition to Facebook, Thiel has also made early investments in many leading companies across various fields through personal investments or Founders Fund, including Airbnb, LinkedIn, SpaceX, Stripe, and DeepMind. Notably, Thiel also operated an investment management and hedge fund, Clarium Capital, which promoted a global macro strategy in 2002. Its managed assets skyrocketed to $8 billion in 2008 but subsequently shrank to approximately $350 million in 2011 due to a series of unprofitable investments and client redemptions. From the founding and sale of PayPal to the "god-tier early investment" in Facebook, and then to the formation of Founders Fund and Palantir, Thiel essentially completed the role transformation of "entrepreneur—angel—venture partner—industry opinion leader" in the first decade of the 21st century. This process brought him considerable capital strength, networking resources, and the ability to stay at the forefront of technology, quietly building a bridge for him to enter the crypto world in the near future. Earning $1.8 billion during the cryptocurrency cycle Among the capital in Silicon Valley, Thiel is one of the earliest renowned investors to intersect with the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries. In September 2014, Thiel announced the latest list of "Thiel Fellowship" (Thiel Fellowship) awardees, with 20 young individuals nominated, including 20-year-old Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. The fellowship is a two-year entrepreneurship funding program launched by Thiel through the Thiel Foundation in 2010, aimed at young people aged 22 and under who have not yet obtained a college degree, encouraging them to "drop out to start a business or do research." In addition to cash funding, the program also provides mentorship and networking support without taking equity in the founders' companies. With the rapid development of Ethereum, Vitalik soon became a representative figure of the Thiel Fellowship. Before funding Vitalik, Thiel had already shown interest and support for the early blockchain industry. In 2013, Founders Fund led a $2 million seed round financing for the crypto payment company BitPay. At that time, crypto payments were still in their infancy, and this was interpreted as top Silicon Valley funds beginning to experiment with the "payment side" of the...