Barry Silbert, the CEO of Digital Currency Group, said he would have secured higher investment gains by just holding the Bitcoin that he invested in early-stage crypto projects around 2012.

During an April 17 appearance on Raoul Pal’s Journey Man podcast, Silbert said he discovered Bitcoin (BTC) in 2011, purchasing BTC at $7-$8 per coin. Once the price of BTC surged, Silbert started looking for early-stage crypto companies to invest in. The executive told Raoul Pal:

“I was using Bitcoin to make a bunch of those investments, and you would think, if you invested in Coinbase you would have done really well. Had I just held the Bitcoin, I actually would have done better than making those investments.”

Silbert’s comments come at a time when Bitcoin maximalists, including Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor, forecast a seven-figure Bitcoin price in the coming decade, and BTC receives greater attention from governments worldwide.

Bitcoin price history 2011-2025. Source: CoinMarketCap

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Bitcoin could hit $1 million if US begins buying BTC

Zach Shapiro, the head of the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) think tank, recently predicted BTC would hit $1 million per coin if the United States government were to purchase 1 million BTC.

“If the United States announces that we are buying a million Bitcoin, that’s just a global seismic shock,” Shapiro told Bitcoin Magazine in an April 16 podcast appearance.

Bo Hines, the executive director of President Trump’s White House Crypto Council, signaled that the council is exploring several budget-neutral strategies for acquiring more Bitcoin for the US Strategic Reserve.

These strategies included revaluing the US Treasury’s gold reserves, which are currently priced at $43 per ounce while the market rate is at an all-time high of $3,300 per ounce, and funding Bitcoin acquisition through trade tariffs.

BTC has been floated as a way to eliminate or alleviate the growing national debt by President Trump and several market analysts.

According to asset management firm VanEck, Bitcoin could help claw back the $36 trillion national debt by $14 trillion if the US Treasury introduces long-term bonds with BTC exposure.

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