Barry Silbert announces the launch of Digital Currency Group

Barry Silbert has announced the official launch and and first round of funding for Digital Currency Group, a new conglomerate devoted entirely to bitcoin and other blockchain technologies.

Digital Currency Group will include a pair of businesses that were originally formed at SecondMarket. They include Genesis Global Trading, an over-the-counter bitcoin trading firm; and Grayscale Investments, a digital currency asset management firm that manages the Bitcoin Investment Trust, a publicly-listed vehicle that raised over $60 million.

“What we’re building is the largest early-stage investment portfolio in the digital currency and blockchain ecosystem. We’re also going to start high-growth businesses of our own, and develop a global platform and network to support our companies,” said Silbert.

DGC is structured as a company rather than as an investment vehicle, in part because Silbert hopes to someday take it public. To that end, he has raised what he refers to as a “very large” new round of funding.

Silbert also announced that the company has closed a round from Bain Capital Ventures, Transamerica Ventures, FirstMark Capital, MasterCard, and New York Life, among others.