Crypto King Barry Silbert: Privacy Era is Here

Digital Currency Group (DCG) founder and CEO Barry Silbert has declared on X (formerly Twitter) that "the 'privacy' era in crypto has officially begun." This appears to be growing sentiment within the cryptocurrency industry.

Zcash (ZEC), a privacy-focused altcoin that has caught the attention of Wall Street institutional investors, is now spearheading this movement after the privacy coin saw a blistering rally.

The "Bitcoin playbook"

Silbert, a long-time advocate for financial privacy, is convinced that Zcash is currently mirroring one of Bitcoin's most historic bull runs.

As reported by U.Today, the "crypto king" behind the crypto venture giant Digital Currency Group has argued that the privacy coin is executing the "2013-2014 bitcoin playbook."

Hence, BTC is currently setting the stage for a massive "2015-2020" style breakout.

Silbert believes that there is a change in how the market understands digital privacy.

In the early days of crypto, many investors (falsely) believed Bitcoin transactions were completely anonymous.

Today, however, powerful blockchain analytics firms have proven that Bitcoin's public ledger can be easily traced.

"In 2015, we had no clue there was $2 trillion in demand for a global, decentralized digital store of value like bitcoin," Silbert explained on X. "In 2015, we also thought bitcoin was, generally speaking, a private way to store and send value around the world. Zcash will benefit from not knowing better."

Zcash's implementation of zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) makes it possible to "shielded addresses," which ensure complete privacy.

Much-coveted Wall Street validation

Zcash, which used to be on the periphery of the cryptocurrency industry, recently secured much-needed coverage in The Wall Street Journal, one of the leading financial outlets. The article has noted that the token is up an astonishing 1,140% over the past year. It has completely demolished Bitcoin's relatively modest gains.

Silbert's relentless bullishness is not surprising. DCG has made Zcash one of its largest holdings this year.

The DCG-backed mining company recently launched an institutional-grade Zcash Mining Pool. It saw significant demand, and Silbert says it proves "the financial privacy ecosystem is growing."

Apart from Silbert, pioneers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have invested $50 million into this digital-asset treasury company specifically to stockpile Zcash.