A crypto titan who has been accused of defrauding numerous mega investors — including Mark Cuban — has ramped up spending in Washington as he tries to push through an IPO of his company.
Digital Currency Group (DCG) founder Barry Silbert paid a settlement to the SEC last year for misleading investors but continues to faces multiple suits from investors and legal action from New York’s Attorney General.
“Silbert and his cronies recklessly operated, exploited, and then bankrupted Genesis [DCG’s now-defunct crypto lending arm] following a spectacular campaign of fraud and self-dealing,” creditors wrote in Delaware Chancery Court filing earlier this year.
Despite the ongoing litigation, Silbert’s spending suggests he believes that with enough money, he can ingratiate himself to lawmakers.
In the third quarter of 2025, the company, which was founded in 2015, spent $420,000 lobbying the Senate — more than triple the $130,000 it spent in the same period a year earlier, according to public filings.
The influence campaign comes as Silbert pushes to take DCG subsidiary Grayscale Investments, for which he serves as CEO, public in a potential $33 billion IPO, sources noted. Some, particularly those who are owed money, are angry he is spending any money in DC or pursuing an IPO as he faces serious charges.
Another source said that DCG is simply spending money on lobbyists in an effort to education lawmakers.
“DCG has already paid everything it owed to Genesis,” a spokesperson for the company told They Post. “The Genesis legal arguments, just like their complaints about our spending in Washington, DC, are without merit. We are proud of our efficient, transparent, and bipartisan presence in Washington, which is appropriate given the policy issues at stake.”
At the same time, Silbert has continued donating to individual lawmakers. But many on Capitol Hill are skeptical it can work.
“Taking money from DCG right now is like taking money from SBF,” a Republican strategist told The Post, referring to disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. “The fraud allegations make it radioactive.”
Lawsuits from creditors, filed in both Delaware chancery court and Manhattan federal court, claim Silbert and other DCG insiders extracted more than $1.2 billion in fraudulent transfers from Genesis in the year before its January 2023 bankruptcy, timing withdrawals around crypto’s 2022 market crashes.
According to court filings, Silbert allegedly lied to investors about Genesis’s financial strength to keep their money locked in while he, his brother Alan, friends and other insiders pulled their funds out, knowing the company was “massively insolvent and a sinking ship.”
Larry Summers, a former advisor to the firm (who most recently went on leave from teaching at Harvard after his Epstein ties were revealed), left the company in 2023.
Silbert could not be reached for comment.
DCG paid the SEC $38.5 million in January 2025 for misleading investors, though the company denies broader wrongdoing.
The Grayscale IPO, filed in November 2025, would provide DCG with liquidity to fight lawsuits or settle claims. But analysts warn the fraud cases could sink it entirely — Grayscale’s revenue already dropped 20% to $319 million in the first nine months of 2025.
A source close to the White House told The Post that Silbert’s lobbying blitz could even backfire since it is “rubbing officials the wrong way.”
Silbert’s influence operation faces a harsh reality: His money can only do so much.
“You can lobby all you want,” the Senate campaign manager said. “But when you’re facing the kind of allegations Barry Silbert is facing, nobody wants to be in the room with you.”
Credit: Source link
