Bitcoin Has Shot Up A Whopping 92525% Since Chamath Palihapitiya Called It 'Schmuck Insurance'
Venture capitalist and ‘SPAC King’ Chamath Palihapitiya is taking a victory lap after Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) hit a new all-time high earlier in July, with a few corrections. In a new X post, the Social Capital founder said, "13 years ago," he urged everyone to put 1% of their net worth into Bitcoin, recalling a price "around $80."
What Happened: That call traces to his Bloomberg op‑ed titled ‘Why I Invested In Bitcoin’, published May 30, 2013, not 13 years ago, where he argued it was "entirely rational" to allocate 1% and branded Bitcoin "schmuck insurance."
On that date, Bitcoin closed at $128.80. He made a similar point on the op‑ed's 10‑year anniversary in 2023, citing that day's average price of nearly $128.80.
With Bitcoin recently setting a fresh all‑time high, the 2013 call looks prescient. Based on today's price of $119,300.90 at press time, Bitcoin has gained a whopping 92,524.9% since the op‑ed's publication.
See Also: Dormant Bitcoin Whale Awakens After 14 Years, Moves $469.8 Million Worth of BTC
Why It Matters: Across the years, Palihapitiya has framed Bitcoin as a store of value. He labeled it "Gold 2.0" in early interviews and later told CNBC it had "effectively replaced gold." He has also referred to Bitcoin as a "red pill," urging skeptics to view it as an alternative monetary system.
More recently, even as he briefly flagged BTC’s quantum-computing risk and called gold the "only safe trade," he continued to comment on crypto adoption trends, from stablecoins he dubs a "second killer app" to market-opening listings.
Palihapitiya's original thesis was straight diversification math. He urged everyone who could to put 1% in an uncorrelated asset that might reprice the system and time has done the rest. With Bitcoin at record territory despite navigating a consolidation phase currently, that 2013 memo reads less like provocation and more like a playbook, even if his latest post is off by a year.
Price Action: At the time of writing, Bitcoin was exchanging hands at $119383.20, down 0.06%, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Photo Courtesy: Rido on Shutterstock.com
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Posted-In: Cryptocurrency Markets
