- Tech investor Peter Thiel talked cryptocurrencies, the potential outcome of the 2020 election, and Silicon Valley's insulated culture during a fireside chat at the Economic Club of New York on Thursday.
- Thiel, an early bitcoin investor, predicted that there will be one leading future cryptocurrency that will be the digital equivalent of gold.
- Thiel suggested that, if President Trump runs again, he would see a positive outcome in the 2020 election.
- Thiel also chatted candidly about his negative opinions of Silicon Valley, which he described as having a "lemming-like" quality.
On Thursday, tech investor and Facebook boardmember Peter Thiel chatted with journalist Maria Bartiromo during a fireside chat at the Economic Club of New York. Thiel talked about a range of topics including the viability of cryptocurrencies, the results of the 2020 election if Trump were to run again, and Silicon Valley's insulated culture.
Thiel invested early in bitcoin, and said he's "long bitcoin, neutral to skeptical on everything else."
"I'm not exactly sure whether or not I would encourage people to turn out and buy these cryptocurrencies right now," he said.
In the future, Thiel predicted that there will be one prevailing cryptocurrency that will viewed as the digital equivalent of gold. "It will most likely be bitcoin," Thiel said, although he hinted at the possibility of ethereum.
Thiel seemed unswayed by the increasing speculation regarding what many feel to be the cryptocurrency bubble.
"Any of the objections most people would have to bitcoin are the same objections people would have had to gold," he said. "But money is a bubble that never pops ... and there is this bubble-like aspect to money that can be quite stable."
Thiel, who recently announced that he intends to move from his longtime home of Silicon Valley to Los Angeles, reiterated his thoughts that the tech hub has become the home of pervasively hermetic ideologies. More than once, Thiel described the valley's tech community as having a "lemming-like" quality which lacked diversity of thought.
"I thought it would be healthier to be somewhere outside [Silicon Valley]," Thiel said.
Thiel stressed the importance of investors considering the geographic expansion of the tech community, not only within the United States, but globally as well.
"This geographic question is something we should be thinking about super hard[...]" Thiel stated. "We're living in a very different world where we have to think about how we get American companies to compete globally."
Drew Angerer/Getty
Vice President-elect Mike Pence looks on as President-elect Donald Trump shakes the hand of Peter Thiel during a meeting with technology executives at Trump Tower, December 14, 2016 in New York City. This is the first major meeting between President-elect Trump and technology industry leaders.
Thiel said that his stance on global economics was a contributing factor in his political backing of President Trump, a move that was controversial within the left-leaning community of Silicon Valley.
"I thought that supporting Trump was one of the least contrarian things I've ever done," Thiel said, citing the president's popularity among voters and victory.
Thiel, while initially hesitant to speculate on the 2020 election, predicted a positive outcome for President Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
"I'm not trying to speculate on this," Thiel said. "[...but] I think if he runs again, he will get re-elected."
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