Draper Fisher Jurvetson managing director and avid bitcoin enthusiast Tim Draper has once again entered a winning bid in a bitcoin auction held by the US Marshals Service.
However, unlike the first auction, in which he was able to purchase all 29,656 of the auctioned bitcoins, Draper confirmed to Bloomberg that this time he won just one block of 2,000 BTC (worth roughly $750,000 at press time).
In total, 50,000 BTC confiscated from alleged Silk Road ringleader Ross Ulbricht were divided into 10 blocks of 2,000 BTC and 10 blocks of 3,000 BTC for the event. Bidders did not have the ability to view other bids or change bids that they submitted during the auction.
Draper told the media outlet that Draper Associates will now provide 300 BTC to each startup that works with Boost VC, the bitcoin-focused startup accelerator founded by his son Adam Draper. It is not clear whether this action was the direct result of the winning auction bid.
At a June press conference, Draper announced that the bitcoins won in the initial auction would be used to help bitcoin exchange Mirror serve more global consumers.
Confirmed participants in the event include Binary Financial, Bitcoin Investment Trust, Bitcoins Reserve, Mirror (formerly Vaurum) and Pantera Capital.
The investor is rumoured to have paid above market price for his first batch of bitcoins, though he has declined to disclose the exact figures for either of his winning bids.
The price of bitcoin on the CoinDesk US Bitcoin Price Index was roughly $640 at the time of the first sale, compared to roughly $370 during yesterday's auction.
CoinDesk is monitoring this developing story.
Tim Draper image via Dan Cawrey