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Digital Currency Group (DCG) founder Barry Silbert, who earned the status of a "crypto king" in the industry for building a massive institutional empire and making early investments in Bitcoin, is shifting his capital focus to the decentralized artificial intelligence market.
His new major bet is the Bittensor AI token ($TAO), in which the investor, who for years has remained one of the main defenders of Zcash (ZEC) on Wall Street, sees a direct continuation of the scarcity model behind privacy coins.
The discussion in the industry was sparked by a widely shared social media thread in which analysts compared the fundamental properties of the two ecosystems.
DCG chief brings the scarcity model of Zcash and Bitcoin to the decentralized AI market
Silbert responded with an affirmative gesture to a post whose authors recalled his early calls on Bitcoin and Zcash, effectively confirming that he sees this AI token as a successor to his previous long-term strategies.
Investors draw direct parallels between these assets because of the strict mathematical scarcity parameters built into their code:
- Fixed supply: As in the Bitcoin and Zcash networks, TAO issuance is strictly capped at 21 million coins, while its distribution algorithm includes regular halvings.
- Productive mining: Unlike traditional PoW networks that spend resources on abstract computations, miners in Bittensor compete in training and mutually evaluating real artificial intelligence models within competing subnets.
Silbert, whose companies have been investing in Bittensor since 2021, openly calls it the most exciting project since Bitcoin. In his view, BTC has already moved into the category of mature defensive assets and is no longer capable of delivering 100x–500x returns.
In search of a new asymmetric bet, he chose decentralized AI, comparing Bittensor's current stage of development to the internet in 1997.
The DCG chief is backing up his thesis by building commercial infrastructure. Specifically to work with this ecosystem, Silbert created and personally took charge of the subsidiary Yuma Group, which operates as a major validator and manages specialized funds for accredited investors.
At the same time, Grayscale Investments, also part of the DCG holding company, provides traditional markets with regulated access to the token through its dedicated AI trust.
In essence, Silbert is reproducing the strategy he used a decade ago. If in previous technology cycles his companies built financial gateways into Bitcoin and Zcash, today a similar infrastructure bridge is being constructed around Bittensor with the goal of monetizing distributed intelligence.