BARRY SILBERT is an entrepreneur, investor, and creator of Grayscale Investments, Digital Currency Group, and the Bitcoin Investment Trust.
But what is the story behind his success, and what is his net worth?
Who is Barry Silbert?
Barry Silbert was born in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in 1976. With an eye for opportunity, he started his first business venture while still at school, selling baseball cards.
Alongside studying, he also sat and passed the General Securities Representative Exam at the age of just 17 – the youngest person ever to do so. Passing the Series 7 stockbroker exam meant he was a qualified stockbroker before even graduating high school.
After completing his studies at school he moved to Atlanta to study finance, receiving a bachelor’s degree from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in 1998.
He served as an investment banker in New York prior to starting his own business, working for Houlihan Lokey as an investment banker until 2004.
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In 2008, Silbert established the venture-backed financial network technology business SecondMarket, the largest secondary market dedicated to creating liquidity for alternative investments. He ran the company until 2014 when it was acquired by Nasdaq.
SecondMarket caught the eye of the financial sector and won Silbert the Ernst & Young and Crain’s Entrepreneur of the Year award and a spot on Fortune’s “40 Under 40” list in 2011.
It was around this time that Silbert started to also get involved in cryptocurrency. In 2013, he launched the Bitcoin Investment Trust, allowing investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin without purchasing and storing the currency themselves.
He also purchased 30,000 Bitcoin to save the token from being delisted from the Mt. Gox exchange in 2014.
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However, it was in 2015, that Silbert founded the Digital Currency Group (DCG) which cemented his legacy in the crypto sphere. A venture capital firm that invests in and builds blockchain companies, DCG describes itself as “the epicenter of the bitcoin and blockchain industry”.
The firm was a seed investor in firms in the worldwide financial sectors, blockchain technology, and digital currency, including Xapo, Unocoin, TradeBlock, Ripple Labs, Kraken, Gyft, Coinbase, Circle, Chainalysis, Chain, BitPesa, BitPagos, BitPay, and BitGo.
In 2020, Silbert launched the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, designed to make it easy for investors to buy and hold bitcoin. The trust is now one of the largest bitcoin holders, with over 400,000 BTC under management. He also founded the Grayscale family of investment products, which includes the famous Ethereum Classic Investment Trust.
What is Barry Silbert’s net worth?
Barry Silbert’s net worth is thought to be $3billion. To put his wealth into perspective, it would take more than 60,000 individuals who earn the standard US income ($52,000) for an entire year to catch up.
Silbert owns a substantial amount of Bitcoin and has made over 200 investments via Digital Currency Group in firms involved with bitcoin and the blockchain.
He has personally invested in companies like Murfie, IVY, Rewind me, Ripio, OneName, Voyat, TraceLink, Tapad, SponsorHub, Slated, SendTheTrend, SecondMarket, Lua, Lenddo, Coinsetter, Artsy, and 500 Global.