According to Cointelegraph: Peter Thiel's Founders Fund reportedly invested $200 million in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) in 2023, ahead of the growing demand from institutional investors due to the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). According to Reuters, the venture capital firm invested $100 million each into BTC and ETH as talks of spot BTC ETF approval heated up in the United States.
Founders Fund has held a significant interest in Bitcoin since 2014, with the company making over $1.8 billion when it liquidated its BTC holdings in 2022. Major financial institutions and funds, unlike hedge funds and venture capital firms such as Founders Fund, had to wait for spot Bitcoin ETFs as a means to venture into the asset class.
BTC's price crossed the $50,000 mark on February 12—a milestone not seen since December 2021. The recent price surge is attributed to the launch and subsequent adoption of Bitcoin ETFs. Since they started trading on January 11, Bitcoin ETFs have seen $2.8 billion in capital inflow, according to a CoinShares report.
As of now, Bitcoin ETFs excluding Grayscale’s GBTC hold over 192,000 BTC, amounting to $59 billion in total assets managed, marking a high since early 2022. It is also observed that the combined holdings of Bitcoin ETFs and MicroStrategy account for around 1.8% of the total Bitcoin supply.
MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor believes there's a "10 years of pent-up demand" for Bitcoin from institutional investors. He suggested a portfolio rebalancing is underway, with funds shifting between futures markets, miners, MicroStrategy and ETFs.
