Chamath Palihapitiya Owns $5 Million In Bitcoins, Wants To Own $10-$15 Million

We already knew that Chamath Palihapitiya, ex-Facebook executive, and founder and partner of The Social+Capital Partnership, was bullish on Bitcoins. But how bullish? He actually owns the equivalent of $5 million in Bitcoins, representing one of the largest positions in the world with the Winklevoss twins.

But that’s not all, Palihapitiya wants to own even more than that — up to $10 and $15 million. He didn’t say whether he counts on an increase in value of Bitcoins or whether he will start right away to purchase more Bitcoins.

Palihapitiya seems to be very aware of the risks involved with betting on a digital currency, but is willing to take those risks. He already shared his thoughts about Bitcoins and why he believes that it is a disruptive idea. But until now, we didn’t know how much Bitcoin he actually owned.

Among the reasons why Palihapitiya is bullish on Bitcoin, he cited the usual key advantages of the currency: it’s an electronic, peer-to-peer, mostly unregulated currency. Yet, he sees Bitcoin as a well-crafted money protocol to remove any kind of friction. It is like what the TCP/IP protocol did to the Internet — it enabled countless of innovations.

As he now holds a significant position in Bitcoins, expect Palihapitiya to talk more about the cryptocurrency. He could become one of the most prominent advocates for the digital currency. Just like he loves poker because it reminds him of how startups work, Bitcoin has a level of risk that he must find fascinating.