Founders Fund, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm known for its early investment in Facebook, is stepping into the world of cryptocurrencies, according to a new report.

Co-founded by high-profile investor Peter Thiel and based in San Francisco, Founders Fund has bought $15 million to $20 million worth of bitcoin across several of its recent funds, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources.

Although it is not entirely clear when the transactions were made or whether the firm has now sold any of its digital assets, the report said one of the funds began the investment as early as mid-2017.

As such, the firm now reportedly touts hundreds of millions of dollars in returns for its investors.

According to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index, bitcoin mostly remained around $2,000 to $3,000 from May to July in 2017 but saw a strong growth over the past six months, having reached an all-time high at nearly $20,000 in December.

However, the news may not be entirely surprising given the billionaire co-founder of PayPal's previous support for the world's first cryptocurrency.

As reported by CoinDesk, Thiel was quoted in October of last year saying he believes the critics of bitcoin are "underestimating" the cryptocurrency and that bitcoin is like gold – meaning it has more potential as a long-term store of value than as an everyday payment method.

Peter Thiel image via CoinDesk's archive.