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Barry Silbert Explains Why Central Bank Digital Currencies Boost Bitcoin

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 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.

CBDCs are digital currencies that a federal regulator controls and issues. Unlike Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, CBDCs are fiat money in the digital form. No CBDC has been launched by any global jurisdiction yet, but such projects have been developed and explored by many governments. At least 10% of central banks are anticipated to issue a CBDC for the general public soon, while China is reportedly about to test its CBDC.

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 believes that Bitcoin and other non-central bank cryptocurrencies could benefit from the same infrastructure that is used by the widespread adoption of CBDCs: He remarked: “We could have 80 different CBDCs in the future. And if that happens, it would stimulate a massive amount of investment in operators of financial systems where essentially every financial institution would then have to be capable of safely storing and transacting CBDCs and, guess what, if they actually create that infrastructure, that same infrastructure could be applied for non-central bank digital currencies like Bitcoin.” He also expressed confidence that central banks will require users to use and engage with the existing financial systems and will not limit the supply of the digital currency. “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. 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.

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 thinks are centralized and not real cryptocurrencies. He has also projected that most altcoins will go bankrupt in the long run, 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 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: Digital Currency Group and Grayscale Investments.

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