Crypto’s ‘Kingmaker’ Urges Investors to Buy Privacy Coins

Arguably the most influential man in crypto has some advice for investors.

Covered:

Barry Silbert Stresses Need to Allocate Privacy Coins
Why Privacy Coins are in the Spotlight
What’s on the Horizon?

Barry Silbert Stresses Need to Allocate Privacy Coins

Barry Silbert, the founder, and CEO of Digital Currency Group, has taken to Twitter today with some advice for crypto holders. For context, Digital Currency Group is undoubtedly the “kingmaker” in the crypto space, owning companies like Foundry, a large Bitcoin miner, Grayscale, and Genesis Trading.

DCG also has major positions in hundreds of different crypto assets. You can view them all here. You can bet that when you ‘turn over the rock’ of a major VC-funded token, DCG is likely underneath. So what did Barry want to tell his followers today?

Every investor should have 5% of their crypto portfolio in privacy-focused coins

— Barry Silbert (@BarrySilbert) February 17, 2022

Barry has always been an advocate of privacy coins, most recently declaring in December that DCG “bought $85 million more Zcash (ZEC).” Zcash is infamously known for being the crypto asset in the top 100 that has consistently plummeted from its all-time high, down 95% from the mania of 2017.

Much derided for his zealotry on privacy coins, Silbert is cynically accused of looking for exit liquidity to get a pump and get out. However, the PR for privacy coins couldn’t be better at this current moment, and maybe Barry is on to something.

Why Privacy Coins are in the Spotlight

The story making the rounds today is the announcement that the FBI is dedicating a whole unit to “crypto crimes.” The FBI will “focus on crypto exchanges, mixers, tumblers and other types of digital asset infrastructure providers that might allow for “the criminal misuse of cryptocurrencies.”

The FBI ominously stated they are going to “send a message” that crypto is not a safe haven. Another notable story today was an article in Bloomberg where they quoted famous Bitcoin maximalist Alex Gladstein saying that bitcoin’s lack of privacy is a major flaw.

Context for my comments in Bloomberg today

TLDR: Bitcoin privacy isn’t good enough, but in the right hands is much better than legacy fintech, and is continuously improving, and our ultimate goal should be digital cash for everyone pic.twitter.com/1ZUXWOZJem

— Alex Gladstein ?? ? (@gladstein) February 17, 2022

Gladstein said it was a “mistake” for the Canadian trucker convoy to publicly announce the BTC address to donate to, as it became quite easy for the federal police to blacklist that address and others associated with it, as we reported yesterday.

What’s more, a radio host even tweeted a Google spreadsheet sharing the names of those who crowdfunded for the protestors. This sparked outrage, even earning condemnation from those on completely opposite political sides, including Minnesota Senator Ilhan Omar, who said such actions are “unconscionable.”

What’s on the Horizon?

All of this has put privacy directly in the world’s spotlight, and while their use case may not be enthralling, privacy is a fundamental right enshrined in most western constitutions. In the U.S., this is found in the 4th amendment.

Barry Silbert is not the only big-wig who feels strongly about this issue. Legendary investor Balaji Srinivasan has recently given his quite concise pro-privacy coin take. He followed up the tweet stating: “This is why I’m not a maximalist. BTC is a necessary but not sufficient condition for freedom.”

Hence privacy coins.

Zcash: https://t.co/cev706q9FG
Monero: https://t.co/p6Y0Zea1Ua
Tornado Cash: https://t.co/jXV6CarKsv https://t.co/QPjqNxSUQk

— Balaji Srinivasan (@balajis) February 16, 2022

Can privacy coins get over their liquidity hurdles stemming from being de-listed on major exchanges? Only time will tell. The total market cap of all privacy coins combined, according to Messari, sits at only ~8.7 billion USD. This sector is also down a combined 30% year-to-date in price.

The total market cap has leaps and bounds to grow should privacy coins gain adoption, and that’s a big if. The conundrum around them, in general, is that the more they are cracked down on, the more they prove their worth, but the result of that is diminished adoption and liquidity constraints. Many believe the time for privacy coins is coming, right now.