Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein departs company

A Goldman Sachs alum will take over as CEO in August

May 20, 2024 09:22 am

Artwork by Crystal Le

Michael Sonnenshein has stepped down as CEO of Grayscale Investments.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the news Monday, saying that Grayscale will bring in a Goldman Sachs alum as the new CEO in August. A Grayscale spokesperson confirmed the news when reached.

“Peter is an exceptional strategic leader with global expertise across the most prominent asset managers, which are critical ingredients as we position Grayscale for its next phase of growth,” Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert said in a statement.

Peter Mintzberg served as the head of strategy for the asset management division at Goldman and also worked at BlackRock and Invesco.

Newsletter

Subscribe to Blockworks Daily

In a post on X, Sonnenshein said that he leaves Grayscale with “a deep gratitude” and said he’s “excited for what’s next.” Though it’s unclear what’s in store for the former executive at this stage.

Loading Tweet..

The change comes the same week as an expected decision on the ether ETF application. Grayscale filed to convert its ether trust into an ETF last year.

Analysts expect the SEC to deny the ether ETFs later this week. Grayscale withdrew its ether futures ET application earlier this month.

During a Financial Times event earlier this month, Sonnenshein reportedly said that the firm wants to focus on its spot products.

The exit also comes as Grayscale’s bitcoin ETF continues to see outflows. GBTC has the highest fee of the slate of spot bitcoin ETFs approved in January, at 1.5%. BlackRock has seen significant success in the same period of time.

However, the firm notched inflows of $18 million last week, according to a CoinShares report from Monday morning.

Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Newsletter

Blockworks Daily

Upcoming Events

Digital Asset Summit 2025

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

learn more

recent research

Research

Analyst Takes: Post-Election Insights

With the recent election, it’s clear that there will be a meaningful shift in crypto regulations and legislation. Trump is likely as pro-crypto as a president can be. He launched (multiple) of his own NFT collections and is launching an Aave wrapper called World Liberty Fi. He has also spoken out and mentioned that he wants to make the United States "the crypto capital of the planet" and transform it into the "Bitcoin superpower of the world". He proposed creating a strategic national Bitcoin stockpile alongside support from Senator Cynthia Lummis, promising to retain 100% of all Bitcoin held by the U.S. government. More importantly, we’re likely to see deregulation across the board in a lot of industries, with crypto being one of them - as Trump has committed to keeping the crypto market largely unregulated. Crypto, DeFi in particular, has historically been knee-capped by overreaching and hostile governmental agencies and regulation by enforcement, as evidenced by the plethora of Wells notices and lawsuits over the past few years. With Donald Trump winning the presidency, Republicans taking control of the Senate, and being on the verge of securing the House, we think it’s likely that crypto realizes positive regulatory clarity. Below, you can find our analysts’ takes:

by Boccaccio