Digital Currency Group
Digital Currency Group (DCG) is a New York-based company focused on the development of the digital currency industry. It launches and invests in groundbreaking companies that are changing the future of finance through digital currency and blockchain technology.
The company is focused on building and growing services businesses to fill important gaps in the existing digital currency market, and operates businesses that provide a variety of financial and professional services to financial institutions, corporations, and startups. In addition, the company invests in early-stage technology startups as a strategic investor, and is supporting one of the largest early stage investment portfolio in the digital currency and blockchain ecosystem. The company's platform strategy is focused on supporting startups in target markets by providing capital through a company’s lifecycle, connecting them a large network, and using the company's collective knowledge and insights to help companies grow and scale.
History
Digital Currency Group was launched[1] in 2015 by Barry E. Silbert, who previously founded SecondMarket, Inc., an enterprise SaaS platform that provides transaction software to private companies and investment funds looking to do tender offers or share buybacks. He began investing in bitcoin companies in 2013, first as an angel investor, and provided funding for many of the earliest companies including Coinbase, BitPay, and Ripple.
Digital Currency Group was formed when two businesses built under the SecondMarket parent company – Genesis Global Trading, the leading bitcoin OTC trading firm, and Grayscale Investments, a digital currency asset management firm that manages the publicly traded Bitcoin Investment Trust (Symbol: GBTC) – were combined with a diversified, broad portfolio of seed investments founder Barry Silbert had made personally in the bitcoin and blockchain space.
The company is supported by various investors including companies MasterCard, CIBC, Western Union, Transamerica, CME Group, New York Life as well as firms Bain Capital Ventures, RRE Ventures, FirstMark Capital, Oak HC/FT, and various funds, family offices, and personal investors.[2]
The board is composed of Glenn Hutchins, co-founder of Silver Lake, and Lawrence Lenihan, the founder of First Mark Capital and the firm Resonance Venture Partners. Board advisors include Lawrence Summers, former US Secretary of the Treasury and President Emeritus of Harvard University, as well as Gavin Andresen, a prominent computer developer who has worked on the bitcoin open source project.
Subsidiaries
In addition to managing a large portfolio of seed stage venture capital investments in over 70 companies across 20 countries, Digital Currency Group owns and operates a number of subsidiaries.
Grayscale
Established in 2013, Grayscale is a digital currency investing firm. Grayscale Investments’ cornerstone product, the Bitcoin Investment Trust or BIT, provides titled, auditable bitcoin exposure through a traditional investment vehicle. The Bitcoin Investment Trust’s shares are the first publicly quoted securities solely invested in, and deriving value from, the price of bitcoin. The Trust trades under symbol: GBTC on the OTCQX market, and is currently only available to accredited investors.[3][4]
Genesis Trading
Genesis Global Trading, Inc. is an institutional trading firm offering two-sided liquidity for digital currency, including bitcoin. Since September 2013, Genesis has traded over 1,250,000 Bitcoin (BTC), worth over $500 million United States Dollars, and has completed over 6,000 trades.
CoinDesk
CoinDesk is a global media, research, and events platform that was acquired[5] by Digital Currency Group in 2016. The company is best known for its balanced coverage of blockchain’s most relevant daily news, its commonly cited Bitcoin Price Index and data tools, and its tutorials and research products, including the quarterly “State of Bitcoin” report. CoinDesk also hosts a large industry conference on digital currencies and blockchain technologies titled Consensus,[6] which was last hosted in May 2016 in New York City, and hosted over 1,500 attendees.
References
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