Tim Draper Helped Fund Coinbase — Now He’s Done Being Quiet | by Chip Mahoney | The Capital | May, 2025

The Draper Dragon is now on fire for Corp Bitcoin

Tim Draper has never been just another billionaire investor.

While most of Silicon Valley was laughing at Bitcoin as a plaything for libertarians and cypherpunks, Draper was quietly betting on its future. Not only did he amass a personal Bitcoin fortune (famously buying seized BTC from the U.S. Marshals Service), but he also backed Coinbase in its earliest days — the same Coinbase that would go on to become America’s first publicly traded crypto exchange and a gateway for millions into digital assets.

Draper saw what few others did: Bitcoin wasn’t just an asset; it was the start of an internet-scale financial revolution.

But over the past few years, Draper has been unusually quiet.

While Michael Saylor became a Bitcoin evangelist and Cathie Wood doubled down on Bitcoin ETF bets, Draper stayed in the background, watching as regulators cracked down, exchanges collapsed, and trust in crypto wavered.

Now? Draper’s done watching.

This week, he came out swinging:

“Businesses not holding Bitcoin are being irresponsible.”