Three Paypal founders invest in BitPay

[samson]

If you do a little research, you discover that once upon a time, Peter Thiel was quite the firebrand.  His concept of what PayPal was created for, and what it could become, was remarkably revolutionary and disruptive.  He was essentially an anarcho-bitcoin fanatic, with the goal of ending what he saw as a totally corrupt world financial system.

So there's two possibilities here.  Either 1.) he's back on track and hoping to right his past failure, or 2.) he's hoping to sell out again for even more this time.

I can't say that I favor the odds of either one of those over the other.

Maybe he's not so happy with the direction Paypal took since it went to Ebay and this is his chance to put it right.

I'm optimistic. He doesn't need the money, he's trying to change the world.

[BTC Books]

If you do a little research, you discover that once upon a time, Peter Thiel was quite the firebrand.  His concept of what PayPal was created for, and what it could become, was remarkably revolutionary and disruptive.  He was essentially an anarcho-bitcoin fanatic, with the goal of ending what he saw as a totally corrupt world financial system.

So there's two possibilities here.  Either 1.) he's back on track and hoping to right his past failure, or 2.) he's hoping to sell out again for even more this time.

I can't say that I favor the odds of either one of those over the other.

Maybe he's not so happy with the direction Paypal took since it went to Ebay and this is his chance to put it right.

I'm optimistic. He doesn't need the money, he's trying to change the world.

I hope so.

[Theraty]

I was looking up Bitpay the past few days. Great service with the potential to accelerate the adoption of bitcoin on and offline. I not the biggest fan of paypal either but this service seems brilliant.

[Sitarow]

I was looking up Bitpay the past few days. Great service with the potential to accelerate the adoption of bitcoin on and offline. I not the biggest fan of paypal either but this service seems brilliant.

Bitpay provides a great service, and as you may already know other such services have been used by Avalon ASIC creators to promote awareness of these service type companies.

[600watt]

These guys are the founders from Paypal investing in BitPay. It's not like it's Paypal directly investing in BitPay.

The way I'm thinking is : They did the almost impossible before, maybe they'll do it again but this time with BitPay instead of PayPal.

I see what your saying. But I wonder if they are buying a piece of BitPay with the intention of an eventual takeover. Why else would they invest in a competitor?

Paypal could just integrate Bitcoin right now. They don't need to buy anyone. But this has nothing to do with Paypal.

http://www.foundersfund.com/

Luke Nosek, Ken Howery, Peter Thiel don't even work at Paypal anymore. This is a fund to help tech startups. It's just throwing the Paypal reference because it adds some weight to the whole e-commerce heavyweight angle.

i would put it a little different. peter thiel first made paypal big and then facebook. he is the one with weight in this game. if he goes into bitcoin, the financial world will take notice.

[Brunic]

I have the utmost respect for Peter Thiel and if this guy is on our side, this is big.

[impulse]

Peter Thiel also sits on the Facebook Board of Directors. If Peter and Chamath Palihapitiya were to become advocates inside of Facebook, you never know what could happen. Chamath does not work at Facebook anymore but I'm sure he still has close ties to it.

[impulse]

Also interesting about Peter, from his Wikipedia page:

According to Eric Jackson's account of PayPal in his book The PayPal Wars, Thiel viewed PayPal's mission as liberating people throughout the world from the erosion of the value of their currencies due to inflation. Jackson recalls an inspirational speech by Thiel in 1999:

"We're definitely onto something big. The need PayPal answers is monumental. Everyone in the world needs money - to get paid, to trade, to live. Paper money is an ancient technology and an inconvenient means of payment. You can run out of it. It wears out. It can get lost or stolen. In the twenty-first century, people need a form of money that's more convenient and secure, something that can be accessed from anywhere with a PDA or an Internet connection. Of course, what we're calling 'convenient' for American users will be revolutionary for the developing world. Many of these countries' governments play fast and loose with their currencies," the former derivatives trader [referring to Thiel] noted, before continuing, "They use inflation and sometimes wholesale currency devaluations, like we saw in Russia and several Southeast Asian countries last year [referring to the 1998 Russian financial crisis and 1997 Asian financial crisis], to take wealth away from their citizens. Most of the ordinary people there never have an opportunity to open an offshore account or to get their hands on more than a few bills of a stable currency like U.S. dollars. Eventually PayPal will be able to change this. In the future, when we make our service available outside the U.S. and as Internet penetration continues to expand to all economic tiers of people, PayPal will give citizens worldwide more direct control over their currencies than they ever had before. It will be nearly impossible for corrupt governments to steal wealth from their people through their old means because if they try the people will switch to dollars or Pounds or Yen, in effect dumping the worthless local currency for something more secure."

Hmm... what does it sound like he is describing?

[samson]

Also interesting about Peter, from his Wikipedia page:

According to Eric Jackson's account of PayPal in his book The PayPal Wars, Thiel viewed PayPal's mission as liberating people throughout the world from the erosion of the value of their currencies due to inflation. Jackson recalls an inspirational speech by Thiel in 1999:

"We're definitely onto something big. The need PayPal answers is monumental. Everyone in the world needs money - to get paid, to trade, to live. Paper money is an ancient technology and an inconvenient means of payment. You can run out of it. It wears out. It can get lost or stolen. In the twenty-first century, people need a form of money that's more convenient and secure, something that can be accessed from anywhere with a PDA or an Internet connection. Of course, what we're calling 'convenient' for American users will be revolutionary for the developing world. Many of these countries' governments play fast and loose with their currencies," the former derivatives trader [referring to Thiel] noted, before continuing, "They use inflation and sometimes wholesale currency devaluations, like we saw in Russia and several Southeast Asian countries last year [referring to the 1998 Russian financial crisis and 1997 Asian financial crisis], to take wealth away from their citizens. Most of the ordinary people there never have an opportunity to open an offshore account or to get their hands on more than a few bills of a stable currency like U.S. dollars. Eventually PayPal will be able to change this. In the future, when we make our service available outside the U.S. and as Internet penetration continues to expand to all economic tiers of people, PayPal will give citizens worldwide more direct control over their currencies than they ever had before. It will be nearly impossible for corrupt governments to steal wealth from their people through their old means because if they try the people will switch to dollars or Pounds or Yen, in effect dumping the worthless local currency for something more secure."

Hmm... what does it sound like he is describing?

I'll tell you what he's not describing and that's Paypal in 2013.

[impulse]

Also interesting about Peter, from his Wikipedia page:

According to Eric Jackson's account of PayPal in his book The PayPal Wars, Thiel viewed PayPal's mission as liberating people throughout the world from the erosion of the value of their currencies due to inflation. Jackson recalls an inspirational speech by Thiel in 1999:

"We're definitely onto something big. The need PayPal answers is monumental. Everyone in the world needs money - to get paid, to trade, to live. Paper money is an ancient technology and an inconvenient means of payment. You can run out of it. It wears out. It can get lost or stolen. In the twenty-first century, people need a form of money that's more convenient and secure, something that can be accessed from anywhere with a PDA or an Internet connection. Of course, what we're calling 'convenient' for American users will be revolutionary for the developing world. Many of these countries' governments play fast and loose with their currencies," the former derivatives trader [referring to Thiel] noted, before continuing, "They use inflation and sometimes wholesale currency devaluations, like we saw in Russia and several Southeast Asian countries last year [referring to the 1998 Russian financial crisis and 1997 Asian financial crisis], to take wealth away from their citizens. Most of the ordinary people there never have an opportunity to open an offshore account or to get their hands on more than a few bills of a stable currency like U.S. dollars. Eventually PayPal will be able to change this. In the future, when we make our service available outside the U.S. and as Internet penetration continues to expand to all economic tiers of people, PayPal will give citizens worldwide more direct control over their currencies than they ever had before. It will be nearly impossible for corrupt governments to steal wealth from their people through their old means because if they try the people will switch to dollars or Pounds or Yen, in effect dumping the worthless local currency for something more secure."

Hmm... what does it sound like he is describing?

I'll tell you what he's not describing and that's Paypal in 2013.

Haha. Agreed.

[minimalB]

Wow, this is great news! I think these guys know what they are doing...  

[notme]

Wow, this is great news! I think these guys know what they are doing... 

FTFY

[Hfleer]

This is great news for Bitcoin businesses.  Legitimizes them as more worthwhile.

[Zangelbert Bingledack]

BitPay is the hero of the Bitcoin business world. Thiel is fixing to finally get this financial revolution stuff right. Two people close to the facebook board of directors are gung-ho probitcoiners. BTC price: Soon to be going UP, back to the exponential growth trendline.

[gogxmagog]

yeah, they were just the start-up guys at paypal. no longer have any financial interest in it. they are obviously ahead of the curve here. precisely what btc needs.

[vokain]

need. more. coins. 

[notme]

need. more. coins. 

sell, put bid at $108, pray

[vokain]

need. more. coins. 

sell, put bid at $108, pray

so sell, put bid at 109, and pray? 

[notme]

need. more. coins. 

sell, put bid at $108, pray

so sell, put bid at 109, and pray? 

sure, if you want to over pay

[wopwop]

Soon: 4% fee on bitpay

No more advantage over PayPal