Republican Capitol Hill staffers are circulating a New York Post investigation by financial journalist Lydia Moynihan highlighting crypto entrepreneur Barry Silbert’s increased lobbying activity in Washington D.C., even as he faces multiple fraud lawsuits and intense litigation related to his crypto company, Digital Currency Group (DCG). 

The Post reports that DCG, the Stamford, Conn., parent of Grayscale Investments, more than tripled its lobbying expenditures to about $420,000 in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the year before, while Silbert pursues a potential IPO. 

In the Delaware Chancery Court the Post reported that pleadings allege that “Silbert and his cronies recklessly operated, exploited, and then bankrupted Genesis following a spectacular campaign of fraud and self-dealing,” claiming insiders withdrew money from Genesis ahead of its bankruptcy while misleading investors about its financial health. 

The Post quoted Republican critics, including a GOP strategist who said, that “taking money from DCG right now is like taking money from SBF,” likening Silbert’s situation to the collapse of FTX and underscoring how “the fraud allegations make it radioactive.” 

The Post also pointed out Silbert’s ties to Democrat Larry Summers, President Obama’s director of the National Economic Council, who recently left Harvard over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Bloomberg previously reported that DCG faced an investigation from the Eastern District of Virginia’s U.S. Attorney’s Office and the SEC. 

A senior Senate Republican counsel, speaking on background, told the Reporter that Silbert’s ties to Democrats and attempted lobbying is being “duly noted” by committee offices tracking the issue. “Capitol Hill is watching how this all plays out because the optics of an influence campaign while defending against these fraud allegations aren’t great. There’s a lot of skepticism” the counsel said.

DCG told the Post that “the Genesis legal arguments, just like their complaints about our spending in Washington, DC, are without merit,” adding it has paid all amounts owed related to Genesis and that its presence in Washington is “appropriate given the policy issues at stake.”