Barry Silbert Forecasts Up To 10% Of Bitcoin’s Market Cap Will Move To

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Barry Silbert, CEO of cryptocurrency conglomerate Digital Currency Group, said Wednesday that privacy-focused cryptocurrencies are poised to become the next big investment opportunity in the industry.

During a conversation with Anthony Pompliano at the Bitcoin Investor Week conference, Silbert said his thesis is that 5-10% of Bitcoin’s (CRYPTO: BTC) market cap would rotate into privacy coins, including Zcash (CRYPTO: ZEC).

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Silbert acknowledged that Bitcoin also started as an “anonymous” currency, but then it “lost the plot” due to the rise of on-chain analytics firms.

“Bitcoin, for all its amazing attributes, is likely never going to have any privacy features,” he argued.

That doesn’t mean Silbert is bearish on Bitcoin’s long-term potential.

“I am incredibly bullish about Bitcoin as a core part of a diversified portfolio,” he stated. “But I like to invest in projects that I think are transformative.”

Silbert argued that Bitcoin will not soar 500 times unless the dollar crashes, but coins such as ZEC have that kind of upside potential.

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Privacy-focused cryptocurrencies outperformed market heavyweights, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), last year. ZEC and Monero (CRYPTO: XMR) surged 853% and 123%, respectively.

That said, these coins have failed to shield themselves from this year’s early crypto slump.

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Unlike Bitcoin, ZEC transactions by default do not reveal the sending and receiving addresses or the amount being sent. However, there is an option to disclose this data for auditing or regulatory compliance.

Silbert’s views come in the wake of the recent cryptocurrency crash, which he described as a “gift from the crypto gods.” He suggested that the slump is clearing out excess leverage and “crap tokens”, potentially paving the way for significant capital inflows back into the sector.

Photo courtesy: Memory Stockphoto / Shutterstock

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