Barry Silbert is a well-known entrepreneur as well as investor who has made significant contributions to the world of cryptocurrency and also owns Gensis Trading and Grayscale investments. This millionaire tend also to be the founder as well as CEO of Foundry and Digital Currency Group, venture capital companies that specializes in funding businesses operating in the blockchain as well as digital currency sectors. Over the years Silbert has become a prominent figure in the cryptocurrency community and his efforts have helped promote positive changes for BTC. This has made him to be a key figure in the development of a number of advantageous improvements in the sector. The following are some major efforts he has impacted in the Bitcoin sector of its growth and shaping it today.
One of such major contributions includes founding of the Bitcoin Investment Trust. Its among Silbert’s major contributions to the Bitcoin industry The first publicly listed Bitcoin fund, BIT, was introduced in 2013 enabling investors to obtain exposure to Bitcoin without having to buy and hold the digital currency themselves. Such helped legitimize Bitcoin as an investment and helped pave the way for the development of other Bitcoin investment vehicles.
Silbert has also been a vocal advocate for Bitcoin regulation. There is need for governments to regulate the cryptocurrency industry as a way to protect consumers thereby prevent fraud according to Silbert. Silbert also notes that excessive regulation can stifle innovation and hinder the growth of the industry. To better grasp the potential advantages of cryptocurrencies, Silbert has engaged with regulators. Regulations encouraging innovation and safeguarding customer interest have been developed with his help.
The other major contribution is being a strong advocate for Bitcoin scaling solutions in addition to his work with regulators. Segregated Witness (SegWit) a scaling solution that expands the capacity of the Bitcoin network by segregating transaction data from signature data has been adopted with his backing. The capacity of the Bitcoin network has been boosted as a result of such expansion. This has been beneficial in the sense that it has assisted resolve some of the scalability challenges that Bitcoin has encountered.
Silbert has also been a strong proponent of Bitcoin as a store of value. Barry Silbert thinks that the restricted supply as well as decentralized features of Bitcoin make it a compelling alterative to established reserves of value like gold. Additionally he has been outspoken in his criticism of flat currencies which he view as intrinsically prone to inflation and manipulable by the government.
Last is being a strong supporter of Bitcoin education and adoption and has not filed for bankruptcy. He has funded numerous initiatives to promote Bitcoin education such as the Bitcoin Education Project as well as the Bitcoin Investment Trust. Silbert has also invested in companies that are working to make Bitcoin more accessible as well as user-friendly such as Circle as well as Coinbase.
