Barry Silbert, the founder and CEO of Grayscale Investments and Digital Currency Group (DCG), has recently expressed his bullish outlook on Bitcoin in a Grayscale investor call on Feb. 12. He covered different issues related to digital assets, such as the role of Bitcoin in the transfer of wealth across generations, decentralized finance, stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
CBDCs are virtual currencies that are issued and controlled by a federal regulator. CBDCs are different from cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin because they represent digital forms of fiat money. Many governments have been developing and exploring such projects, but no global jurisdiction has launched a CBDC yet. China is reportedly preparing to test its CBDC soon, while at least 10% of central banks are likely to issue a CBDC for the general public in the short term.
He claims to have acquired his first Bitcoin in 2012, three years after the creation of the first block on the Bitcoin blockchain. Silbert stated that by developing the infrastructure for institutional interest, central banks that make their own digital currencies might be strengthening Bitcoin. He thinks that the same infrastructure that is used by the widespread adoption of CBDCs could benefit Bitcoin and other non-central bank cryptocurrencies: He said: “In the future we may have 80 different CBDCs. And if that occurs, it would spark a huge amount of investment in operators of financial systems where basically every financial institution would then need to be able to securely store and transact CBDCs and, you know what, if they actually construct that infrastructure, that same infrastructure could be utilized for non-central bank digital currencies like Bitcoin.” He also stated that he was sure that central banks will require users to use and engage with the existing financial systems and will not restrict the supply of the digital currency. Silbert pointed out Bitcoin’s limited supply feature, saying: “Central banks love to print money.”
As he leads two major companies that are involved in various aspects of digital assets, Silbert is one of the most influential figures in the crypto industry. As of Feb. 12, Grayscale Investments is the world’s largest digital asset manager, with more than $40 billion in assets under management. Various crypto-related projects, such as Foundry, Genesis Trading and CoinDesk, are invested in by Digital Currency Group, which is a venture capital firm.
For a long time, Silbert has been vocal about his bullish views on BTC and other cryptocurrencies. He has also been critical of some projects, such as Ripple (XRP), which he considers to be centralized and not a true cryptocurrency. He has also predicted that most altcoins will experience bankruptcy in the long run, while Bitcoin will continue to dominate the market.
To sum up, Barry Silbert is a prominent figure in the cryptocurrency industry who thinks that central bank digital currencies are beneficial for Bitcoin. He argues that CBDCs will create the infrastructure for institutional interest in non-central bank cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. He also emphasizes that Bitcoin has a limited supply feature that makes it superior to fiat money. He leads two major companies that are involved in various aspects of digital assets: Grayscale Investments and Digital Currency Group.