Digital Currency Group sells $700M of shares for investors to take profits

Digital Currency Group CEO and founder Barry Silbert didn’t sell any stock in the latest round.

Digital Currency Group (DCG), one of the largest companies in the cryptocurrency industry, has completed a major secondary investment round led by Japanese financial giant SoftBank.

DCG has sold $700 million worth of shares to companies like Google’s parent company, Alphabet, to bring its valuation to more than $10 billion, the company officially announced Monday.

“Proud to welcome SoftBank, CapitalG, Ribbit, GIC, Tribe and Emory to an already fantastic list of DCG shareholders. And even more proud of over 1,000 employees of DCG and our wholly-owned subsidiaries that made this happen,” DCG CEO and founder Barry Silbert said.

In a Wall Street Journal interview, Silbert emphasized that the investment wasn’t about raising capital for DCG but rather an “opportunity for some for some early investors to exit and take profits.” All the raised money went to the selling shareholders, and none of them sold their entire stake, the company said. Silbert, who owns about 40% in the firm, said that he didn’t sell any stock in the latest round.

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Silbert noted that the company hasn't ruled out a potential initial public offering, but it’s “not in the plans and not being discussed right now.” DCG has been profitable and is on track to top $1 billion in revenue for the year, the CEO said.

DCG is a major crypto industry company, known for operating Grayscale Investments, the world’s biggest digital asset manager with $50 billion under management. In mid-October, Silbert hinted that the company is making plans to convert its Bitcoin Trust into a spot-settled Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.