Michael Sonnenshein, the Grayscale CEO since 2021, has decided to step down from the position. He will be succeeded by Peter Mintzberg, the TradiFi leader, and a Goldman Sachs executive.
In today’s news let us look deeper into what is happening in Grayscale and why Michael Sonnenshein is getting replaced now.
What’s happening at Grayscale Investments?
As of the latest reports, the current CEO of Grayscale Investments, a digital currency asset management company headquartered in Connecticut, Michael Sonnenshein, has been relieved from his position.
The reports also suggest that he will be replaced by Peter Mintzberg, a Goldman Sachs executive, from the coming August 15th onwards, and much more than that.
Grayscale Investments, one of the top crypto asset managers in the globe, stated in a news release that Sonnenshein was moving on to pursue other interests. The joining of Mintzberg was announced in the same news release.
As of now, it is known that Mintsberg is to join the board of directors of the company.
In the meantime, the current Chief Financial Officer of Grayscale, Edward McGee will take over the anchor of the ship.
The news release suggested that McGee will serve as the principal executive officer and will lead the firm until Peter Mintzberg joins the firm.
Silbert wishes the very best for Sonnenshein
The founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group, the parent company of Grayscale Investments, Barry Silbert said that he was grateful to Sonnenshein for his stewardship of the company.
Silbert noted that Sonnenshien had been the CEO since 2021 and has been a part of Grayscale for the past 10 years.
In the news release, Barry Silbert stated that Micheal guided Grayscale from 60 million US dollars to around 30 billion US dollars worth of assets under management.
He also quoted his leadership during the historic court victory against Grayscale and against the US SEC.
The court victory enabled the company to uplift its first spot BTC ETF to NYSE Arca alongside some of the biggest players in traditional finance. Silbert added that they wish him all the best.
Why is Sonnenshein leaving after 10 years at Grayscale?
Grayscale Investments nor Sonnenshien has revealed the exact reason for his departure from the company where she has spent the past 10 years of his life.
It is indeed evident from the words of Silbert that Sonnehsien has led the company to more heights in his duration there. What could be the reason for his departure?
A senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, Eric Balchunas has some points to state regarding this. He said he was a bit surprised to hear the news of Sonnenshien stepping down. However, he doubts it may be due to the GBTC outflows.
GBTC, the ticker symbol for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, has faced a total outflow of 17.6 billion US dollars since it started to trade as a spot Bitcoin ETF earlier in January of this year, 2024.
He said that GBTC has a 1.5% fee which was far higher than its rivals in the spot BTC ETF market.
This resulted in major outflows and the billions worth of outflows left the company with a feeling of loss and loss.
Balchunas viewed that when a whole team ends up in loss it usually results in someone having to leave the team and the company.
When GBTC witnessed key outflows due to its substantially higher fees, the other spot BTC ETFs were making loads of money.
For Grayscale it was more than a loss. Because they were the pens who fought the US SEC and won over the latter in the court.
However, when every other spot bitcoin ETFs ranked in money, they failed in that. Most of the spot bitcoin ETF analysts opine that the high fees may be the reason, if they had lowered their fees even by a little bit, they could have won money.
It was earlier in August 2023 that a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit favored Grayscale Investment in their case against the US SEC.
The firm filed the case against the SEC as the financial enforcement body denied their application to convert GBTC to a spot bitcoin ETF.
From Sonnenshein
On an X post by Sonnenhein on May 20, he had tweeted about his departure from Grayscale.
He has deep gratitude for everyone who has been with him on the incredible rocket ship journey that he had at Grayscale Investments.
Who is Peter Mintzberg?
Currently, Peter Mintzberg is serving as the Global Head of Strategy for Assets and Wealth at Goldman Sachs.
A spokesperson for Goldman Sachs stated that they were happy for Peter and added that the new one was an interesting role.
The spokesperson continued that, in the absence of Peter Mintsberg, the team at Goldman Sachs would report to their Chief Financial Officer for Asset and Wealth Management, Thomas Manetta.
