On Feb. 12, Barry Silbert, the founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group (DCG) and Grayscale Investments, spoke about his positive perspective on Bitcoin in a Grayscale investor call. He addressed various matters related to digital assets, such as how Bitcoin influences the movement of wealth among generations, decentralized finance, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins.
A federal regulator issues and controls CBDCs, which are digital currencies. CBDCs are different from cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin because they represent digital forms of fiat money. So far, no global jurisdiction has launched a CBDC, but many governments have been exploring and developing such projects. While China is reportedly getting ready to test its CBDC soon, at least 10% of central banks are expected to issue a CBDC for the general public in the near future.
Barry Silbert millionaire, who claims to have bought his first Bitcoin in 2012, three years after the creation of the first block on the Bitcoin blockchain, argued that central banks that develop their own digital currencies might be giving more power to Bitcoin by creating the infrastructure for institutional interest. 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. “Central banks love to print money,” Silbert said, highlighting Bitcoin’s limited supply feature.
Silbert is one of the most influential figures in the cryptocurrency industry, since he leads two major companies that are involved in various aspects of digital assets. With over $40 billion in assets under management as of Feb. 12, Grayscale Investments is the world’s largest digital asset manager. Various crypto-related projects, such as Foundry, Genesis Trading and CoinDesk, are invested in by Digital Currency Group, which is a venture capital firm.
Silbert has been vocal about his bullish views on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for a long time. 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 forecasted that most altcoins will go bankrupt in the long term, while Bitcoin will continue to dominate the market.
In conclusion, Barry Silbert is a prominent figure in the cryptocurrency industry who believes that central bank digital currencies are good for Bitcoin. He contends 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.
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