Billionaire Tim Draper is selling an entire island for less than the bitcoin he once scooped up at $632 a coin

But the venture capitalist’s island price tag is around $10 million less than he famously paid when pocketing nearly 30,000 black market bitcoins in 2014 for $632 each.

The 29,656 bitcoins were valued at the time at $18 million but would be worth around $2.3 billion today, with the price of each coin selling for more than $78,000 as of Sept. 14.

Draper, meanwhile, has revealed the sort of “hilarious” offers he’s received for the island, though the Tanzanian government didn’t find the prospective sale so funny — noting publicly that the billionaire doesn’t own the land and, therefore, can’t legally sell it.

The island became a luxury escape — now buyers want to pay in cows and promises

Lupita Island was purchased by Draper in 2004 as a “deserted island 5 kms off the mainland” full of “thick bush and foliage with beautiful trees and not much more.”

After four years of construction, the resort opened in 2008 and boasts 110 private acres featuring “eleven lavishly decorated, thatched-roof living spaces including a family cottage all strategically positioned to offer both privacy and breathtaking, uninterrupted views of Africa’s second largest lake,” along with a beach, freshwater pool, spa and wellness center and activities like safaris, sunset cruises and more.

It’s believed that Draper — an investor in companies like SpaceX, Tesla and Skype — put $6 million into the island resort. Some of the offers he’s received, however, fall far short of that number — though he told the New York Post that he found them “hilarious” nonetheless.

“I have gotten offers to swap for gold mines, houses, for cows and for $1 with a promise to pay the rest — when he could,” Draper said, adding that he’s received “overwhelming interest.”

Draper’s team declined to comment to Moneywise for this story, while the Tanzanian government didn’t reply to a request. But the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development did make it clear that the island itself is not Draper’s to sell. Instead, he can only sell his investments in the island as a shareholder of Firelight Safaris Ltd, which runs the tourism operations on the island.

Draper clarified to the Post that “The sale is of all the tenant improvements. The buildings and villas are on a Tanzanian government land lease” — a renewable agreement for up to 99 years.

The offers Draper quipped about also mirror the trouble that some sellers face in the U.S. as the luxury real estate market continues to decline in major markets.

Trophy properties are taking a hit as buyers gain the upper hand

If you thought selling your stake in a Tanzanian island may prove tough, luxury sellers back home in the U.S. are finding that buyers aren’t always willing to pay top dollar to live large.

A Realtor.com report for August 2026 found that “luxury homes sold faster than a year ago but slower than midsummer,” while the entry price point to the market dropped 4% nationally — the 29th straight downward-trending month — to $1.20 million.

The Los Angeles/Long Beach/Anaheim market, for example, saw a 1.9% year-over-year price drop for its most expensive listings, while markets like New York/New Jersey dropped 10.4%. California’s Oxnard/Thousand Oaks/Ventura and San Diego/Chula Vista/Carlsbad markets saw 9.7% and 6.7% declines respectively. San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara fell 5.6%.

That said, not every luxury market is in decline. Florida’s Naples/Marco Island area jumped 9.4% year-over-year, while Atlantic City/Hammonton, New Jersey rose 2.3%.

The Wall Street Journal noted recently that “there have been fewer trophy home sales compared with the past few years, and buyers have been pushing back on pricing,” while others have pointed to buyer leverage thanks to a wider availability of options — as well as mortgage rates concerns for those who are on the edge of the luxury threshold.