Venture capitalist Tim Draper, known as a Bitcoin bull, hailed Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto as a figure who challenged the global financial order.

On Oct. 26 (local time), blockchain media outlet U.Today reported that Draper recently ranked 76th on Forbes' list of the “250 most optimistic people in the United States”. He then cited optimism as a driver of technological progress and pointed to Satoshi as an example.

“In the short term, pessimists might be right, but all progress is made by optimists,” he said, adding: “Think about the technological advances we have achieved.” He also cited several entrepreneurs and argued that business models that initially seemed impossible eventually became reality.

Those he mentioned included Hotmail co-founders Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith, credited with helping popularise free email, and Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, credited with opening the way for internet calls. He also described Elon Musk as someone who pushed ahead with electric vehicles and private space travel businesses amid widespread skepticism.

He described Satoshi as an optimist who tried to change the entire global economy through Bitcoin and software. He focused on the attempt to shift the role of trust, long handled by existing financial institutions, into software.

Satoshi released the Bitcoin white paper in October 2008 and presented a decentralised peer-to-peer electronic cash system that enables transactions without intermediaries such as banks or payment companies. It verifies transactions and maintains records through cryptography and consensus among network participants instead of trusting a specific institution. Draper is also among early Bitcoin investors and bought about 29,656 bitcoins seized from Silk Road at a U.S. government auction in 2014.

Draper’s assessment is meaningful in that it views Bitcoin not as a simple cryptocurrency but as an attempt to redesign financial architecture. His remarks are also read as highlighting that the starting point of technological progress lies in entrepreneurs raising questions rather than in investment.

@Forbes just named me one of America's greatest living optimists. #76! It was a huge honor. After all, while pessimists might be “right” for the time being, optimists do everything that drives progress. All the great successes I know are huge optimists. Supporting optimism is my life. Free email sounded crazy to pessimists. But Hotmail was built by optimists, Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith. Free phone calls and video calls sounded even crazier to pessimists. But Skype was born by optimists, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Fries. An electric car company and a private space company? Crazier still to a pessimist, but Tesla and SpaceX were built by the biggest optimist anywhere, Elon Musk. Satoshi Nakamoto is an optimist, willing to transform the entire global economy with a trusted 3rd party in software around Bitcoin. Every one of those started with an entrepreneur painting a picture of a world nobody had seen yet. My job was just to believe in the world they were creating, and to say yes to them and encourage them forward. So the award really belongs to the founders. They supply the optimism. I just keep buying it. https://t.co/nftwPjT5Ec