Lessons from Barry Silbert

Barry Silbert, the founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group (DCG), is a towering figure in the cryptocurrency landscape. His early and steadfast belief in Bitcoin and blockchain technology has not only shaped the industry but also offers a wealth of knowledge for investors and entrepreneurs. From his investment philosophy to his entrepreneurial journey, Silbert's insights provide a roadmap for navigating the volatile yet promising world of digital assets.

On Bitcoin and its Future

On Bitcoin's Inevitable Growth: "Once Wall Street starts putting money into Bitcoin - we're talking about hundreds of millions, billions of dollars moving in - it's going to have a pretty dramatic effect on the price." [1][2]
The Viral Nature of Bitcoin: "Bitcoin is one of the most viral concepts I've ever encountered." [2]
The Unbreakable Link Between Bitcoin and its Technology: "You just can't bifurcate bitcoin currency from the technology. Bitcoin will always need a monetary base." [2][3]
Bitcoin as a Global Financial Rail: "We are as enthusiastic as ever about Bitcoin as a global currency and, really more importantly, Bitcoin as a global financial rail." [2][3]
The Path to Mainstream Adoption: "As the platform and protocol become more ingrained in society, get built into products and services, and basically become more of the mesh of society, just like the Internet, companies and people will need to own Bitcoin to play on its rails." [2][3]
The Cyclical Nature of Bitcoin's Price: "The history of Bitcoin trading is a bubble, a correction, consolidation, and another increase. It's happened four times, and it will happen again." [2]
A Simple Yet Powerful Prediction: On the future price of Bitcoin, Silbert has consistently maintained a bullish outlook, often simply stating it will be "higher." [4][5]
The 'Flywheel Effect' of Bitcoin's Price: "When price starts to increase, flywheel effect begins…" [4]
On Bitcoin Displacing Gold: "If you buy into my hypothesis that bitcoin is gonna displace gold... you're trading into an opportunity." [6]
Bitcoin's Resilience in a Financial Crisis: "I think it could perform really really well in that financial apocalypse situation." [7]
Bitcoin as a Non-Correlated Asset: When macro events occur, institutions that sell off traditional assets "don't today have the Bitcoin to sell off." [7]
The Digital Gold Narrative: "Bitcoin has been dubbed 'digital gold' and for good reason. Silbert expects traditional investors to start taking Bitcoin more seriously and adding it to their portfolios." [5]
The Importance of Accessibility: "People have been scared off Bitcoin by the fact that you needed to put your money in an unregulated overseas platform... We are looking to remove the pain points and create a way to invest that is faster and more secure." [2]
On the Inevitability of Digital Money: "It's clear that in the future physical cash is going to go away." [8]
A Bet on Innovation, Not Against the Dollar: "I don't want to bet against the US i don't want to bet against the US dollar i want to bet on innovation." [7]

On Investment Philosophy and Strategy

The Virtue of Holding: "If I had just held bitcoin, I would have made more than by making these investments." [9][10]
Long-Term Vision: Silbert is a proponent of a long-term investment approach, focusing on projects with the potential for significant growth over time rather than short-term market fluctuations. [9][11]
The Power of Diversification: He emphasizes the importance of spreading investments across different sectors and asset classes to minimize risk. [9][11]
The Necessity of Risk Management: Silbert advises investors to carefully assess the risks of each investment and develop a strategy to protect their capital. [9]
Staying Informed is Crucial: He believes that being well-informed about market trends, industry developments, and regulatory changes is essential for making sound investment decisions. [9][11]
On the Vast Majority of Tokens: "I think 99% of crypto is absolutely going to zero." [12] and are "meaningless and useless." [9][13]
The Importance of Privacy: "People will realize that financial privacy is important to them." [9][13]
Identifying Transformative Protocols: "We identify protocols tokens that we think have the opportunity to kind of change the world." [14]
The Five Phases of Bitcoin Acceptance: Silbert outlines a journey from being dismissive to skeptical, then intellectually curious, and finally to investing. [6]
Backing the Best Teams: "Our mission is to accelerate the development of a better financial system... and so we want to back the best teams, who have the biggest ideas, unique solutions to big problems." [2]
Investing in the 'Picks and Shovels': DCG's strategy involves investing in the foundational companies of the crypto ecosystem, such as exchanges and identity businesses. [6]
A High Threshold for Excitement: "The CEO of DCG acknowledged that his 'threshold of excitement' about anything is indeed very high." [9][13]
Patience as a Virtue: Silbert's reflection on holding Bitcoin underscores the potential of a patient, long-term investment approach in the volatile crypto market. [15]

On Entrepreneurship and Leadership

Don't Fear Established Competitors: "Do not fear the established... these large companies they're so slow to move they're so slow to adapt and they just simply don't innovate." [16]
Launch with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP): "You don't launch when everything's perfect you launch as soon as you're ready." [16]
Be Fearless and Passionate: "Be fearless... find an opportunity and something that you're passionate about and you know it's so cliche like go big go home just you know kind of trust your instincts." [11]
The Power of a Simple Start: Silbert started SecondMarket with "five of us, five telephones, and an Excel spreadsheet. That was it that was our marketplace." [16]
Building Strong Teams: Effective leadership involves assembling a diverse and talented team, fostering clear communication, trust, and a shared vision. [3]
Resilience and Adaptability are Key: Leaders must be able to bounce back from setbacks, learn from failures, and adjust to a rapidly changing world. [3]
The Importance of a Mission-Driven Approach: "We are all very mission-driven in that we are all trying to create a better financial system here." [17]
The Advantage of Being a Private Company: "The benefit of being a private company in the space right now is the ability to kind of move quickly and be agile." [17]
From Evangelist to Builder: "I spent eight years being an evangelist for Bitcoin... and I feel like we've a bunch of us kind of you know passed the torch." [17]

On the Broader Crypto and Blockchain Landscape

The Disruptive Power of Micropayments: "Just like the Internet disrupted the publishing industry, we're going to see Bitcoin micropayments creating some very interesting opportunities for pay-as-you-go, pay-based-on-time online businesses." [10]
The Future of E-commerce: Silbert predicted that every e-commerce website will eventually accept Bitcoin as a payment option. [10]
The Rise of Blockchain in Supply Chains: He foresaw an "explosion of blockchain POCs focusing on supply chain." [5]
Blockchain for Identity: Silbert highlighted the potential of blockchain ID solutions to solve real-world problems, including identity verification and registering undocumented people. [5]
The Convergence of AI and Crypto: "I believe that the next big wave in crypto is going to be the convergence of AI in crypto." [18]
On Decentralized AI (Bittensor): "It is the thing that I've gotten most excited about since Bitcoin." [18]
The Inevitable Shakeout: "Industry consolidation and shake out continues." [4]
The Potential of Smart Contracts: "I am a believer in the potential of smart contracts as a concept." [6]
A New Financial System in the Making: "You're betting on this new financial system that is going to get built over the next couple decades." [6][19]
Permissionless Innovation: "That's a term that I really like - 'permissionless innovation' - because anybody who has an idea and has a solution can tap into or can leverage the Bitcoin blockchain." [3]
The Role of Speculation: Silbert argues that speculation is a necessary enabler for building the liquidity and infrastructure of a new financial system. [6]
The Impact of Libra (now Diem): He saw Facebook's crypto project as a catalyst for infrastructure build-out and putting digital asset wallets in the hands of billions. [8]
A More Accessible Capital Market: Silbert envisions a future where investing in early-stage opportunities is accessible to a broader group of investors, creating a more liquid market for non-public companies. [8]

Learn more:

Lessons from Barry Silbert

On Bitcoin and its Future

On Investment Philosophy and Strategy

On Entrepreneurship and Leadership

On the Broader Crypto and Blockchain Landscape

Written by Antoine Buteau

Lessons from Carl Pei

Lessons from Allen Lau