Founder of Digital Currency Group (DCG) Barry Silbert, who has earned the title of 'crypto king' in the industry for building a massive institutional empire and early investments in Bitcoin, is shifting his capital focus to the decentralized artificial intelligence market. His new major bet is the Bittensor (TAO) token. In it, the investor, who has been one of the main advocates for Zcash (ZEC) on Wall Street for years, sees a direct continuation of the scarcity model underlying privacy coins. The discussion in the industry was sparked by a widely circulated thread on social media, where analysts compared the fundamental properties of the two ecosystems. Silbert responded to the post with an affirmative gesture, effectively confirming that he considers this AI token a successor to his previous long-term strategies.
Investors are drawing direct parallels between the assets due to the strict mathematical parameters of scarcity embedded in their code. Like the networks of Bitcoin and Zcash, the issuance of TAO is strictly limited to 21 million coins, and the distribution algorithm includes regular halvings. However, unlike traditional PoW networks that expend resources on abstract computations, Bittensor miners compete in training and mutually evaluating real AI models within competing subnetworks.
Silbert, whose companies have been investing in Bittensor since 2021, openly calls it the most exciting project since Bitcoin. In his opinion, BTC has already transitioned into the category of mature defensive assets and is no longer capable of delivering returns of 100x–500x. In search of a new asymmetric bet, he has chosen decentralized AI, comparing the current stage of Bittensor's development to the internet in 1997.
The head of DCG supports his thesis with commercial infrastructure. Specifically for working with this ecosystem, Silbert has created and personally leads a subsidiary called Yuma Group, which acts as a major validator and manages specialized funds for accredited investors.
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