Barry Silbert is the Founder & CEO of Digital Currency Group, a company helping to build the foundation of the digital currency and blockchain technology industry by launching, incubating, and investing in groundbreaking companies that will transform the global financial services ecosystem and usher in the “internet of value”. DCG has been an active seed investor in the digital currency industry with over 50 investments in 15 countries including BitGo, BitPay, BitPagos, BitPesa, Chain, Circle, Coinbase, Gyft, Kraken, Ripple Labs, TradeBlock, Unocoin, and Xapo.
In addition, Barry also created the Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT), a private, open-ended trust sponsored by Grayscale Investments, a Digital Currency Group company. The BIT’s shares are the first publicly quoted securities (ticker: GBTC) solely invested in and deriving value from the price of bitcoin, enabling investors to gain exposure to the price movement of bitcoin without the challenges of buying, storing, and safekeeping bitcoins.
Prior to founding Digital Currency Group, Barry founded SecondMarket, a platform that enables private companies and investment funds to more efficiently raise capital and provide liquidity to their stakeholders by simplifying complex transaction workflows, streamlining investor onboarding, and verifying that investors are accredited.
SecondMarket has received numerous accolades in recent years including being named by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer and has received honors from Forbes, Fast Company, Deloitte and other organizations. Barry has received several individual honors including being named Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young and Crain’s, and being selected to Fortune’s prestigious “40 Under 40” list.
Prior to founding SecondMarket in 2004, Barry was an investment banker at Houlihan Lokey and graduated with honors from the Goizueta Business School of Emory University.