Key Takeaways
- • Barry Silbert, founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group, said at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference in Park City, Utah, that he has not been this excited about a crypto project since discovering Bitcoin, naming the convergence of AI and crypto as the next big wave.
- • Silbert is backing Bittensor, a decentralized AI marketplace founded by former Google engineer Jacob Steeves, and has started a new company, Yuma, dedicated to the protocol and its TAO token.
- • Bittensor applies Bitcoin-style incentive mechanisms to get participants to lend computing power to a decentralized server network for AI, offering an alternative to centralized players such as OpenAI, Google, and Amazon.
- • TAO reached an all-time high of $757 in March 2024 and traded near $360 as of the Thursday of the conference, per Fortune.
Summary
Barry Silbert, one of crypto's earliest entrepreneurs and a long-time advocate of Bitcoin as "digital gold," is now betting on a different project. Speaking on a Tuesday panel at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference in Park City, Utah, Silbert said: "I believe that the next big wave in crypto is going to be the convergence of AI and crypto." He identified Bittensor, a decentralized marketplace for AI founded by Jacob Steeves, a former Google engineer, as the project behind his enthusiasm. "It is the thing that I've gotten most excited about since Bitcoin," he said.
Silbert has launched a new company, Yuma, dedicated to the Bittensor protocol and its associated cryptocurrency TAO. Yuma helps projects that want to use the Bittensor network to power their AI applications. Silbert framed the opportunity in terms of access: "I want to open up the development and the access to AI and Bitensor is enabling that." He described the network as "the world wide web of intelligence," comparing it to the internet's role in organizing information.
The strategic premise is that leading AI models require enormous computing power, and only large, centralized players such as OpenAI, Google, or Amazon have the capital to compete at that scale. Bittensor seeks to repurpose the incentive mechanisms that underpin Bitcoin to encourage participants to contribute computing power to a decentralized server network that runs AI algorithms.
Silbert's background gives weight to the pitch. He obtained his stock broker license at 17, worked on bankruptcies including Enron and WorldCom, and founded SecondMarket in 2004, a platform for trading alternative assets that he later sold to Nasdaq. In 2012 he discovered Bitcoin and founded Digital Currency Group, whose subsidiaries included CoinDesk, the Genesis lending arm, and Grayscale. DCG later sold CoinDesk to the exchange Bullish, and Grayscale confidentially filed to go public in July. Silbert's empire suffered setbacks during the crypto downturn that followed the FTX collapse.
TAO's price history underscores the volatility of the sector. According to Fortune, the token hit an all-time high of $757 in March 2024, and it traded near $360 as of Thursday afternoon.
Silbert has launched a new company, Yuma, dedicated to the Bittensor protocol and its associated cryptocurrency TAO. Yuma helps projects that want to use the Bittensor network to power their AI applications. Silbert framed the opportunity in terms of access: "I want to open up the development and the access to AI and Bitensor is enabling that." He described the network as "the world wide web of intelligence," comparing it to the internet's role in organizing information.
The strategic premise is that leading AI models require enormous computing power, and only large, centralized players such as OpenAI, Google, or Amazon have the capital to compete at that scale. Bittensor seeks to repurpose the incentive mechanisms that underpin Bitcoin to encourage participants to contribute computing power to a decentralized server network that runs AI algorithms.
Silbert's background gives weight to the pitch. He obtained his stock broker license at 17, worked on bankruptcies including Enron and WorldCom, and founded SecondMarket in 2004, a platform for trading alternative assets that he later sold to Nasdaq. In 2012 he discovered Bitcoin and founded Digital Currency Group, whose subsidiaries included CoinDesk, the Genesis lending arm, and Grayscale. DCG later sold CoinDesk to the exchange Bullish, and Grayscale confidentially filed to go public in July. Silbert's empire suffered setbacks during the crypto downturn that followed the FTX collapse.
TAO's price history underscores the volatility of the sector. According to Fortune, the token hit an all-time high of $757 in March 2024, and it traded near $360 as of Thursday afternoon.
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