Michael Sonnenshein Steps Down as Grayscale CEO 

Michael Sonnenshein has resigned as CEO of Grayscale Investments, a position he has held since 2021. Peter Mintzberg, former head of strategy for asset and wealth management at Goldman Sachs, will succeed Sonnenshein on August 15. 

Mintzberg, a seasoned strategist with over 20 years of asset management experience, will also join the Grayscale board of directors. 

Grayscale’s CFO, Edward McGee, will serve as interim CEO until Mintzberg takes over. 

Mintzberg has held leadership roles in strategy, M&A and investor relations at BlackRock, OppenheimerFunds, and Invesco. He began his career working at McKinsey & Co. focused on the financial services and technology sectors. 

Sonnenshein, who has been with Grayscale since 2014 oversaw the firm’s growth to approximately $30 billion in assets under management, including the pivotal conversion of its Bitcoin Trust into an exchange-traded fund (ETF).  

Barry Silbert, CEO of Digital Currency Group, Grayscale’s parent company, praised Mintzberg’s global strategic leadership as essential for the firm’s future success and is “excited to welcome [him] as Grayscale’s CEO” 

The company recently withdrew its application for an Ethereum futures ETF and is currently awaiting an SEC ruling on its spot Ether ETF application. Its spot Bitcoin ETF is still the largest, with $19.37 billion in assets under management.   

However, since the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust was turned into a spot Bitcoin ETF in January, Grayscale has seen billions in withdrawals. There has been significant speculation over when the company may lose its top rank to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust.