Barry Silbert thinks the movement of generational wealth could usher in a new era for Bitcoin.
The founder and CEO of crypto investment firm Grayscale says he doubts that older generations’ persistent focus on gold will be replicated by tomorrow’s investors. During Grayscale’s 2019 mid-year review webinar, Silbert notes that there are “decades of difference” between the average age of a Bitcoin investor and a gold investor.
“Gold is an $8 trillion asset class today, and Bitcoin is about $230 billion. So if you do believe that there is a chance that over the next decade or two that Bitcoin will capture some of that $8 trillion, you know you’re talking about a pretty amazing upside case in Bitcoin. And that’s only the investment thesis around Bitcoin as digital gold. It’s not putting value on Bitcoin for all the other things that it could be.”
Silbert notes the massive amount of wealth that baby boomers – 51-69 years old – are set to soon pass down to younger generations.
“I think there’s a really interesting generational shift that’s happening that I think many investors don’t appreciate or are not focusing on, and that is that over the next couple of decades, the next 25 years, there’s $68 trillion of wealth that’s held by baby boomers and the older generation – and that’s just in the U.S. alone – that’s going to be handed down to Generation X and millennials…
And so, my theory is that whatever [percentage] of that $68 trillion is currently in gold, I don’t think is going to stay all in gold. It doesn’t mean it’s going to go all into Bitcoin, but I do believe it’s going to find its way into other asset classes.”
The younger generations, who are excited about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, will be the ones who decide where the wealth goes, Silbert adds.
Grayscale is the world’s largest digital currency asset manager and manages more than $2.6 billion across 10 products.