Grayscale Investments’ Top Executives Barry Silbert and Mark Murphy Resign from Board of Directors
In addition to top executives stepping aside from the board of directors, Grayscale Investments also filed an updated spot Bitcoin ETF application with the SEC on Tuesday.
Top cryptocurrency investor Grayscale Investments LLC has been preparing to offer spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) in a bid to widen its market share. On Tuesday, the company made several moves to ensure an imminent approval of spot BTC ETF, which is anticipated to happen in the next few weeks. Grayscale Investments announced on Tuesday that its chairman and founder of Digital Currency Group Barry Silbert and DCG president Mark Murphy had resigned from the board of directors effective January 1, 2024.
Notably, the company highlighted that Mark Shifke has replaced Silbert, whereby Mathew Kummell and Edward McGee are the new appointees of the board of directors, who join Michael Sonnenshein.
The three new appointees of the board of members bring immense experience to fund management. For instance, the 64-year-old Shifke has been working as the Chief Financial Officer of Digital Currency Group Inc (DCG). Since March 2021, Shifke has served on the board of directors of Dock Ltd., a pay and digital banking platform. In the past, Shifke has also served as CFO of Green Dot (NYSE: GDOT) and led teams at JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS).
Kummel, on the other hand, has been working as the senior vice president of operations at Digital Currency Group. The 47-year-old has served on the board of directors at Coindesk, among other notable roles. As for McGee, he has been working on the company’s audit committee in addition to the CFO role since January 2022. Notably, McGee has also served at Goldman Sachs as VP of accounting policy.
Grayscale Investments Prepares for SEC’s Approval of Spot Bitcoin ETFs
Grayscale Investments has been at the forefront of pushing the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve the spot Bitcoin ETFs. Earlier this year, the US SEC was compelled by the court to relook into the spot Bitcoin ETFs applications from a similar angle as Bitcoin futures ETPs that were previously approved. Since then, the US SEC has significantly changed its approach to crypto firms, with ETF experts forecasting imminent approval in early January.
Grayscale Investments holds more than $25 billion in its GBTC trust and wants the SEC’s approval to convert it to a spot Bitcoin ETF. On Tuesday, Grayscale Investments filed another amended S-3 to comply with the SEC’s demand for cash-only redemption, which has been a similar case with other fund managers seeking to offer spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Even @Grayscale is accepting the SEC’s Cash-only creation/redemption edict. Looks like they’re bending the knee. pic.twitter.com/BtbyE5XQv0
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) December 26, 2023
Market Outlook
Despite the heightened speculation of spot BTC ETF approval in the United States, Bitcoin price has struggled to rally beyond $44.5k. With a few days to the end of the year, the altcoin market has been preparing for further breakout as Bitcoin whale accounts accelerate profit taking and diversification to the alternative crypto coins.
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