Key Points
- Michael Sonnenshein steps down as the CEO of Grayscale Investments LLC.
- He will be replaced by the former Goldman Sachs executive Peter Mintzberg, starting August 15.
Barry Silbert, founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group (DCG), the parent company of Grayscale, just announced in a post on X, that Michael Sonnenshein will be stepping down as the CEO of Grayscale Investments LLC.
He will reportedly be replaced by the former Goldman Sachs executive Peter Mintzberg as of August 15. Mintzberg is the Global Head of Strategy for Asset and Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs.
Sillbert noted in his post on X, that Grayscale is being positioned for its next phase of growth. He detailed that Mintzberg has over 20 years of experience across prominent asset managers including BlackRock, OppenheimerFunds, and Invesco.
1/ As we position @Grayscale for its next phase of growth, excited to welcome Peter Mintzberg as Grayscale’s CEO, effective August 15. Joining from Goldman Sachs, Peter has 20+ years of experience across prominent asset managers, including BlackRock, OppenheimerFunds & Invesco…
— Barry Silbert (@BarrySilbert) May 20, 2024
Sillbert also offered his gratitude to Sonnenshein for his 10 years at Grayscale in which he guided the firm through exponential growth and oversaw the pivotal role that it had in bringing Bitcoin ETFs to the market. The move led the way for the financial industry in general.
GBTC is the largest ETF by on-chain Bitcoin investments
Grayscale was included in the first Bitcoin ETF issuers in the US and saw its Bitcoin Trust ETF, GBTC, converted into an ETF on January 11, along with the products of 10 more companies.
The fund has been operating since 2013, making it the first publicly traded Bitcoin fund according to Grayscale itself.
Grayscale’s GBTC is the largest ETF by on-chain Bitcoin investments, and it’s currently holding more than 287,801 BTC worth over $19,2 billion.
with a 34.9% market share. On the other hand, Grayscale also requires investors to pay the highest fee, of 1.5%, compared to the industry standard of 0.20% – 0.25%.
By comparison, BlackRock‘s iShares ETF, IBIT, is the second-largest and holds over 274,000 BTC worth about $18,3 billion.
It has a 33.3% market share, according to Dune data.
Bitcoin ETFs have been seen as a price catalyst for Bitcoin, along with many other important triggers such as the halving event which took place on April 20, the launch of the Runes protocol on the same day, and the overall innovative idea of Bitcoin network programmability addressed earlier today.