Bitcoin Up, Alts Down; BTC Pumps on Report of Founders Fund Investment

Bitcoin price started climbing after the Wall Street Journal published a story about Peter Thiel's Founders Fund sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is surging while altcoins start to bleed as the Wall Street Journal published a storydetailing how one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent venture-capital funds, Founders Fund, has reportedly amassed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin.

Founders Fund, co-founded by Paypal co-founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel, has, according to sources unnamed, been betting on the rising digital currency, investing between $15 to $20 million in it.

Bitcoin, which saw an amazing 2017, started the year priced at $1,000 and reached $20,000 in December, before dipping ahead of Christmas and fluctuating between the $13,000 and $14,700 range.

However, with the story from WSJ breaking out, the digital currency quickly surged from around $13,500 to $15,500, resulting in people selling their altcoins to ride the BTC pump.

NEO, which was breaking its own records today, closing in on $100, also dropped sharply following Bitcoin’s rise.

Ethereum Classic (ETC), which had barely found a leg to stand on, rising from sub $30s, fell once again.

The same was the case with XRP and ADA, even though both had been fairly stable lately.

Despite Bitcoin being a risky investment, it has evidently paid off for Founders Fund, but it remains unclear whether any of the holdings have been sold as yet.

What is interesting about this recent Bitcoin surge is that the WSJ story does not seem to indicate that the fund is currently buying the digital currency. All it revealed, was that the fund had invested in Bitcoin last year, and is now sitting on holdings worth hundreds of millions.

That being said, investors and traders may see accumulation from a renowned venture-capital fund as a hugely positive sign, and given how Peter Thiel has, in the past, spoken about Bitcoin’s massive potential, this development can give Bitcoin the boost it needs to emerge out of its recent slump.