VR Legend Palmer Luckey Says He Started Mining Bitcoin Early

Oculus VR Founder Palmer Luckey Reveals Passion for Bitcoin

In a recent podcast interview with entrepreneur Peter Diamandis, Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey shared his deep enthusiasm for Bitcoin. Luckey, an early cryptocurrency adopter, revealed he mined Bitcoin before exchanges even existed.

"I have been from the beginning," Luckey said, recalling his participation on the BitcoinTalk message board where he interacted with early adopters including Satoshi Nakamoto.

Luckey's Bitcoin experience includes both triumphs and challenges. He once sold a website banner ad for 700 Bitcoin - worth approximately $74 million today. However, he lost his holdings in the Mt. Gox hack, recovering only about 13% after a lengthy process.

While passionate about Bitcoin, Luckey maintains skepticism toward alternative cryptocurrencies, a view common among early Bitcoin proponents.

From Garage Tinkerer to Tech Visionary

Luckey's entrepreneurial spirit emerged early. As a teenager, he built his first VR headset in his parents' garage, driven by a lifelong fascination with electronics. This passion led to his revolutionary work in virtual reality.

His 2012 Oculus Rift Kickstarter campaign revitalized the VR industry with an affordable, low-latency headset that solved previous technical limitations. The project's success attracted Meta (then Facebook), which acquired Oculus for $2 billion in 2014.

After Oculus, Luckey founded defense-tech company Anduril, now valued at $8 billion, further establishing his reputation as an innovative tech leader.