Before he was one of the most powerful VCs in the world, Peter Thiel created PayPal, which deals in real dollars and boomed accordingly. If you think this might make him wary of unregulated internet funny money, you're wrong: $2,000,000 wrong.

Thiel's Founders Fund just wrapped a $2 million round for BitPay, which helps other companies accept Bitcoin payments—namely for things "like electronics, precious metals, and other low-margin products," says TechCrunch. The cash infusion comes only a week after Fred Wilson led a $5 million round in another company that does pretty much the exact same thing, and at a time when the most powerful Bitcoin exchange in the world is getting its ass kicked by the US government. I suppose this is the closest an investor like Thiel can get to the dopamine release of an actual gold rush, and given his techno-libertarian passions, a hard-on for secret internet money makes sense.