As of August 15, Grayscale Investments will be led by Peter Mintzberg, who will succeed Michael Sonnenshein after a decade at the helm of the company.
According to a statement released by Grayscale, Michael Sonnenshein has resigned from his position as CEO of Grayscale Investments to pursue other interests.
The news of his resignation comes days after the company withdrew its application to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch an Ethereum spot ETF in the US market.
In the published note, the company reported that its operations will be managed by Edward McGeeel, its financial director, in the interim period between Sonnenshein's resignation and Peter Mintzberg's official incorporation on August 15.
Sonnenshein says goodbye to Grayscale
Michael Sonnenshein, who has been instrumental in the approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs in the United States, shared a brief statement via his social media, in which he announces his retirement from Grayscale Investments.
Sonnenshein thanked the company for its support, including DCG founder Barry Silbert and all team members, past and present. He also extended a special thanks to Grayscale’s leadership team for their dedication, loyalty and commitment, which accompanied him during his 10 years as CEO.
Without further details on his resignation, Sonnenshein encouraged the Grayscale team to continue building and expressed great enthusiasm “for what lies ahead.”
For the crypto community, Sonnenshein has been a key player in the approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, which were approved in the United States last January, after a decade of resistance from the SEC.
In 2022, Grayscale Investments, which is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG), filed a lawsuit against the securities regulator after the agency rejected its application to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot ETF. The company won the lawsuit against the SEC in August last year, achieving a victory that paved the way for Bitcoin spot funds to enter the US market.
Who is Peter Mintzberg?
Peter Mintzberg will join Grayscale Investments on August 15 from Goldman Sachs, where he serves as Global Head of Strategy for Asset and Wealth Management.
With a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and an MBA from Harvard University, Mintzberg has extensive training and experience as a senior executive. Grayscale highlighted its new CEO’s leadership at several of the world’s leading asset managers, including Invesco, BlackRock, and OppenheimerFunds. In addition to this, Mintzberg was recognized by The Alumni Society as a Latino Leader in Finance in 2018 and was chosen by the Partnership for the City of New York as a David Rockefeller Center Fellow for the class of 2016-2017.
His extensive background in the financial world makes him the ideal leader to propel Grayscale into its next phase of growth and development, the company said. For his part, Mintzberg stressed that he has always admired Grayscale Investments as a leading company in the digital asset sector and that, as its new CEO, he will focus on ensuring that the company continues “capitalizing on the unprecedented momentum in the digital asset class.”
