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. He tends also to be the founder and CEO of Foundry and Digital Currency Group, venture capital companies that specializes in funding businesses operating in the blockchain and digital currency sectors. This Millionaire has become a prominent figure in the cryptocurrency over the years due to his efforts that has 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. He has helped shape the industry and drive its growth with some of his major contributions listed below.
The founding of the Bitcoin Investment Trust. Silbert contributed greatly to the Bitcoin industry with this effort. Bitcoin fund was introduced ion 2013 which enabled investors to obtain exposure to Bitcoin without having to buy and hold the digital currency themselves. Bitcoin was legitimized as an investment coin and paved way for the development of other Bitcoin investment vehicles at the end.
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. Silbert has also assisted in developing regulations that encourage innovation while safeguarding customer interests
The other major contribution is being a strong advocate for Bitcoin scaling solutions in addition to his work with regulators. He has helped adopt with his backing Segregated Witness which is a scaling solution that expands the capacity of the Bitcoin network by segregating transaction data from signature data. Such helps boost the capacity of the Bitcoin network. This has been beneficial in the sense that it has assisted resolve some of the scalability challenges that Bitcoin has encountered.
The other one is he has 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. Flat currencies are intrinsically prone to inflation and manipulable by the government which has made him face criticism.
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. Circle and Coinbase are some companies he has invested in that are making Bitcoin more accessible and user friendly.