Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein departs company

A Goldman Sachs alum will take over as CEO in August

article-image

Artwork by Crystal Le

share

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. 

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.

Read more: Grayscale’s planned GBTC sibling is a page from BlackRock’s playbook

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.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 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.

recent research

Research Report Templates (2).png

Research

We’re bullish on the PUMP token. We believe Pump.fun's brand strength, existing integrations, product roadmap, and strategic levers justify PUMP's TGE valuation, and expect the token to re-rate meaningfully higher in the months ahead.

article-image

Coinbase’s newest acquisition includes the CEO and Head of Research from Opyn

article-image

Crypto’s highest purpose might be to make markets better by making them bigger

article-image

The non-profit’s “Project Open” seeks to let stocks trade directly on Solana

article-image

The acquisition is Pump.fun’s first, and comes just days before its planned ICO

article-image

As Trump’s tariff war reignites, everyone is assuming the dollar will continue its path lower. But the journey might be bumpy

article-image

A valuation model for “blockchain GDP”