Mark Shifke Stepping in as Grayscale Chairman as Barry Silbert Steps Down

By: Isha Das

In a significant reshuffling at Grayscale, chairman Barry Silbert and president of its parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG), Mark Murphy, will be resigning from their board positions. The change will be effective from Jan. 1, 2024, as per a Dec. 26th 8-K filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Succeeding Silbert as chairman will be Mark Shifke, DCG's chief financial officer. He will be supported on the board by Matthew Kummell and Edward McGee. Grayscale is one of the leading asset management firms focused on cryptocurrency, maintaining over $34 billion in assets.

Known for its Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), Grayscale is currently in the process of converting GBTC into a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF). An essential victory was scored by the firm against the US SEC in August, when its initial effort to reform its trust into an ETF was rejected judicially as 'arbitrary and capricious'.

Despite its Bitcoin Trust trading at a 5.63% discount to the asset it's based on, Grayscale holds its position as the second-largest Bitcoin entity worldwide, managing about 620,000 units of Bitcoin, valued over $27 billion.