Bitcoin (BTC) would benefit from global central banks issuing their own cryptocurrencies, the founder at the world's largest digital asset manager believes. Barry Silbert, founder and CEO of digital currency asset manager Grayscale Investments and blockchain venture capital firm Digital Currency Group (DCG), has again expressed his bullish stance on Bitcoin in the latest Grayscale investor call on Feb. 12. During the call titled “The State of Digital Currencies,” Silbert spoke of a number of important digital asset-related issues including Bitcoin’s role in generational shift in wealth, stablecoins, decentralized finance and central bank digital currencies (CBDC). What are central bank …

California-based fintech company Figure Technologies has completed its $103 million funding round led by cryptocurrency asset manager Morgan Creek Digital. In conjunction with closing the Series C round, the blockchain-focused firm announced that Morgan Creek co-founder Anthony Pompliano had joined Figure’s board, according to a press release on Dec. 5. The news comes three days after Figure secured $58 million of the planned $103 million, according to its filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the new announcement, Figure Technologies’ total funding now exceeds $225 million, while its valuation amounts to $1.2 billion. MUFG’s VC arm …

New York-based digital asset management fund Grayscale Investments has received regulatory approval to publicly quote the shares of its diversified cryptocurrency fund. First publicly-quoted diversified crypto fund Grayscale was approved by the United States Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to publicly quote its Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLCF) on over-the-counter (OTC) markets, according to a press release on Oct. 14. The recent approval purportedly enables the first publicly-quoted security based on a selection of digital currencies in the U.S., the firm stated. The shares will be available for purchase through investment accounts similar to other unregistered securities. DTC-eligible shares …

Ripple, the firm behind the third biggest cryptocurrency XRP, has led an investment round in Bitso, one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the Spanish-speaking world. The first Mexican crypto exchange An early partner of Bitso, Ripple has led the new investment round to support the first cryptocurrency exchange in Mexico, the company officially announced on Oct. 14. As reported by crypto publication The Block, the new investment round also involves major investors including United States-based crypto exchange and wallet provider Coinbase, Jump Capital as well as existing investors such as Digital Currency Group and Pantera Capital. The amount of …

Cryptocurrency data and financial technology startup Digital Asset Data announced that it received $3.2 million in funding in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on July 25. A round led by Silver Lake and Glenn Hutchins Per the release, the round was led by investment firm North Island and tech-focused private equity group Silver Lake co-founder Glenn Hutchins. The new funds, added to its seed funding of $6 million covered by Cointelegraph in April, brings the total funding received by the startup to $9.2 million. The startup in question reportedly provides tools enabling asset managers and other market participants to …

The crypto winter is likely to be ending, a senior executive at major American blockchain venture capital firm Digital Currency Group (DCG) said in an interview with Bloomberg Technology on June 11. Barry Silbert, DGG founder and CEO, outlined the cyclical nature of the ups and downs of major cryptocurrency bitcoin (BTC), which allegedly means that the recent surge of crypto prices would only continue. Silbert, who is known as a serial crypto investor, specifically pointed out that bitcoin’s price dynamics have been “quite a roller coaster,” with its price having dropped 80% four times since 2011 only to hit …

The current outlook for the cryptocurrency market has been downgraded from mildly bullish to uncertain, SFOX’s latest volatility report concluded on June 6. While the report acknowledged that crypto prices recovered substantially last month, the authors described overall sentiment is at a tipping point — and warned it was unclear how much of the growth is due to FOMO (fear of missing out). SFOX echoed recent comments made by Digital Currency Group founder, Barry Silbert, and said bitcoin’s (BTC) rally on Monday, May 13 may have been linked to developments in the trade war between the United States and China. …

The CEO of a cryptocurrency firm has suggested that the recent rise in bitcoin’s (BTC) price could be linked to the trade war between China and the United States, Fortune reported on May 20. In an interview, Digital Currency Group founder Barry Silbert noted how BTC’s acceleration coincided with talks breaking down between Beijing and Washington. The crypto advocate said bitcoin is proving itself to be a safe haven for investors at times of drama in the global economy — and cited other examples where BTC’s value rose as traditional stock markets took a tumble. Silbert added: “If you look …

New York-based digital asset manager Grayscale Investments has introduced its pro-bitcoin (BTC) advertising initiative “Drop Gold” in a press release on May 1. The Drop Gold campaign is based on the emergence of bitcoin as an alternative to gold investments. In particular, the advertising campaign is promoting bitcoin investment within Grayscale’s publicly traded Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT), which started trading under the ticker GBTC back in 2015. Grayscale’s pro-bitcoin advertisement includes a provocative commercial arguing that gold investors are living in the past. The commercial presents gold as an old-fashioned asset that weighs down investors’ portfolio, and contrasts it with …

Digital Assets Data — a crypto-focused fintech and data firm — has launched with a $6 million raise from industry backers such as Digital Currency Group, Morgan Creek Digital Assets and others. The financing will enable the firm to build out a new institution-grade crypto data platform, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on April 30. Digital Assets Data’s co-founder and CEO Mike Alfred previously served as co-founder and CEO of Brightscope, a financial information company that provided data and ranking services to major asset managers such as Black Rock, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Fidelity, the press release …

United States blockchain and cryptocurrency-focused venture capital company Digital Currency Group (DCG) has made almost 130 investments in the industry to date, the firm revealed in a blog post on April 1. Summarizing its performance since 2016, DCG, which is headed by well-known cryptocurrency advocate Barry Silbert, invested in 127 startups, the majority of funding coming in the form of seed rounds. While not exhaustive, the company suggested the data was useful for gaining a comparison between the blockchain and crypto market in 2016 and at the end of 2018. “Startups of all stripes have been raising increasingly more money …

Barry Silbert, CEO and founder of Digital Currency Group and Grayscale Investments, said that the majority of digital tokens will not have value in the long run, CNBC reports on Feb. 13. In a purported phone interview with CNBC, Silbert said “I’m not a believer in the vast majority of digital tokens and I believe most will go to zero." He added that, "Almost every [initial coin offering] ICO was just an attempt to raise money but there was no use for the underlying token." ICOs experienced a boom in late 2017– early 2018, which was followed by a bust …