He points to research that suggests there is a sliver of the Venusian atmosphere about 30 miles from the surface where humans could theoretically survive because temperatures are lower and pressure is less intense.

I have this shuttering vision that this is the crux of his motivation. If he's a silver bug then he is proposing Venus so that he can either fuck with some world elite or he is the world elite who needs to stop people who are stacking silver in the hopes of calling their bluff about a dwindling circulating supply. Why wouldn't a billionaire [redacted] himself [redact] about innovation to the end of commodity pricing? He'd call himself a modern Columbus bravely taking on the sea while naysayers sit on their hands in Europe.