VR Legend Palmer Luckey Says He Started Mining Bitcoin Early

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From Bitcoin to VR: The Wild Ride of Palmer Luckey 🚀💰

In a recent tête-à-tête on a podcast hosted by the ever-enthusiastic American entrepreneur Peter Diamandis, the illustrious Oculus VR founder, Palmer Luckey, proclaimed himself a “big time Bitcoin guy.” One can only imagine the twinkle in his eye as he declared, “I have been from the beginning,” as if he were recounting a grand tale of yore rather than a mere financial escapade.

With a flourish, he added that he mined Bitcoin in its infancy, rather than indulging in the pedestrian act of purchasing it. “I have been doing this since before there were any exchanges,” he boasted, as if he were the first to discover fire or perhaps the wheel.

A Bitcoin O.G. 🧙‍♂️

Ah, but Luckey was not merely a casual observer; he was a member of the fabled BitcoinTalk message board, where the enigmatic Satoshi Nakamoto mingled with other early adopters. One can only imagine the digital smoke and mirrors that filled the air as they exchanged ideas.

In a stroke of sheer genius—or perhaps folly—he sold a banner ad on one of his websites for a staggering 700 Bitcoin. At current prices, that little piece of digital real estate would be worth a jaw-dropping $74 million, with Bitcoin currently trading at a dizzying $106,000. Talk about a missed opportunity for a lavish yacht party! 🛥️

Luckey, ever the gambler, even placed a bet on a Bitcoin slot machine, which, in a twist of fate, did not yield the expected riches. Who knew that luck could be so fickle? And in a plot twist worthy of a Shakespearean tragedy, our dear entrepreneur lost all his coins during the infamous Mt. Gox hack. He managed to claw back a mere 13% of his digital treasure after a Herculean recovery effort. Truly, a modern-day Odysseus!

Despite his early enthusiasm, Luckey has little love for alternative cryptocurrencies, a sentiment echoed by many of his fellow Bitcoin pioneers. It seems that loyalty runs deep in the world of digital gold.

Reviving the VR Industry 🎮

Luckey’s fascination with electronics began in his youth, as he tinkered away in his parents’ garage, dreaming of building his own VR headset at the tender age of 16. One can only imagine the parental pride—or perhaps concern—as he transformed their humble abode into a veritable tech lab.

VR headsets have a storied history, with early prototypes dating back to the 60s, including the infamous “Sword of Damocles.” Fast forward a few decades, and the industry had barely moved an inch, with commercial headsets resembling clunky relics from a bygone era. Some PC VR headsets from the 90s were priced at over $10,000, offering an experience that could only be described as “less than delightful.”

Yet, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Luckey emerged as the tech evangelist who single-handedly revived the VR industry with the Oculus Rift prototype, launched on Kickstarter in 2012. It was a low-cost, low-latency marvel that breathed new life into a seemingly moribund sector.

In a plot twist that would make any entrepreneur green with envy, Meta (formerly Facebook) swooped in and acquired Oculus for a cool $2 billion in 2014, catapulting Luckey into the ranks of the tech elite. And as if that weren’t enough, he went on to establish the defense-tech company Anduril, now valued at a staggering $8 billion. Who knew that a childhood dream could lead to such riches?

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2025-05-30 17:33