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Central Bank Digital Currencies Are Good for Bitcoin, Barry Silbert Says
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 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. Unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, CBDCs represent fiat money in the digital form. 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 suggests that Bitcoin and other non-central bank cryptocurrencies could gain from the same infrastructure that is used by the widespread adoption of CBDCs: “So at one point of the future we might have 80 different CBDCs. And if that happens, it would trigger a tremendous amount of investment in operators of financial systems where essentially every financial institution would then have to be able to safely store and transact CBDCs and, guess what, if they actually build that infrastructure, that same infrastructure could be used for non-central bank digital currencies like Bitcoin.” He also said that he was confident that central banks will not cap the supply of the digital currency and will require users to engage and use the existing financial systems. “Central banks love to print money,” Silbert said, highlighting Bitcoin’s limited supply feature.
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. Grayscale Investments is the world’s largest digital asset manager, with over $40 billion in assets under management as of Feb. 12. Digital Currency Group is a venture capital firm that invests in various crypto-related projects, such as CoinDesk, Foundry and Genesis Trading.
Silbert has long been vocal about his bullish views on Bitcoin 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 projected that most altcoins will go bankrupt 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 maintains that CBDCs will create the infrastructure for institutional interest in non-central bank cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. He also highlights 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.
This post topic: Financial
