Why 99.99% of Cryptocurrencies Are Just Modern-Day Snake Oil

Now, consider this here feller who got wise to Bitcoin back when it was cheaper than a mess of pot liquor—just about seven bucks a pop. His verdict? Most of the hullabaloo in today’s crypto circus is about as valuable as a screen door on a submarine.

Silbert, the big boss over at Digital Currency Group, used to be a card-carrying blockchain enthusiast, but these days he treats most tokens like last year’s fashion—better left in the attic. According to him, 99.99% of these digital doodads don’t rightly need to exist. Imagine that! If his interest was a tinderbox, it’d be soaked in rain by now.

Yet, there’s a twinkle in his eye when it comes to keeping money matters hush-hush. Even though privacy coins like Zcash have gone out of style faster than a corncob pipe at a rap concert, Silbert reckons privacy ain’t done with us yet. People will soon want to keep their cow pies under wraps again. “Privacy in money isn’t dead,” he says, just hiding in the weeds.

Silbert’s tale with Bitcoin started early—2011, back when most folks thought digital gold was about as real as a riverboat ghost. He first thought he’d struck it rich, then nearly fell out of his rocking chair when the price dropped like a sack of potatoes. Instead of high-tailing it out of the barn, he decided to back folks building the crypto barn itself. Ripple, among others, caught his eye early on.

Looking back, he grudgingly admits that hangin’ onto his original Bitcoin stash would’ve made him richer than a hillbilly at a flea market. But he figures the impact his investments had on the whole spread was worth the trouble—sort of like sowing a few seeds in bad soil and still getting a modest crop.

Though he’s about as taken with altcoins as a cat is with a swim, Silbert still rides the Bitcoin pony and believes folks oughta be able to mind their own money business without prying eyes peering over their shoulder. He ain’t buying every shiny token wagon, but he’s betting on the horse that started this whole rodeo.

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2025-04-18 10:26