Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein resigns as spot BTC ETF inflows rebound

Grayscale
Investments
CEO
Michael
Sonnenshein
has
resigned
from
the
asset
manager
amid
mass
investor
departures
from
the
firm’s
GBTC
ETF. 

On
May
20,
the
Wall
Street
Journal

reported
that
Peter
Mintzberg
will
replace
Sonnenshein
as
the
company’s
head
in
August.
Mintzberg
is
a
financial
veteran
with
decades
of
experience
as
Goldman
Sachs’s
global
head
of
strategy
for
the
bank’s
asset
management
operations. 

Grayscale
did
not
immediately
respond
to
commentary
requests
from
crypto.news. 

The
development
comes
on
the
heels
of
a
possible
trend
reversal
for
Grayscale’s
converted
GBTC
fund,
which
saw
its
first
weekly
net
inflows
in
some
19
trading
weeks
last
week. As

Fineqia
International
research
analyst
Matteo
Greco
shared
with
crypto.news,
GBTC
garnered
$31.6
million
in
net
inflows
between
May
13
and
May
17. 

However,
last
week’s
GBTC
flows
were
a
drop
in
the
pond
compared
to
around
$17.6
billion
worth
of
exits
since
January,
when
the
U.S.
Securities
and
Exchange
(SEC)
approved
spot
Bitcoin
(BTC)
ETFs.  

At
press
time,
it
was
unclear
how
this
Grayscale
exodus
impacted
Sonnenshein’s
decision
to
step
down
as
CEO.
Still,
previous
reports

showed
that
the
investment
giant
lost
50%
of
its
assets
under
management
in
less
than
six
months
of
GBTC’s
switch
from
a
trust
to
an
exchange-traded
fund. 

Spot
Bitcoin
ETFs
scored
$950
million
in
net
inflows
last
week

According
to
Greco,
GBTC
was
not
the
only
U.S.
spot

BTC
ETF
to
attract
investor
capital
last
week. The
pack
of
11
funds
issued
by
Grayscale,
BlackRock,
Fidelity,
ARK
21Shares,
Bitwise,
Invesco
Galaxy,
VanEck,
Valkyrie,
Franklin
Templeton,
WisdomTree,
and
Hashdex
amassed
a
cumulative
$950
million
in
weekly
net
inflows,
per

SoSoValue
analytics.

Greco
noted
that
the
renewed
interest
buoyed
Bitcoin’s
price
by
7%
within
the
week,
as
the
largest
digital
asset
closed
around
$66,300.
This
followed
low
daily
volatility
and
five
weeks
of
modest
spot
BTC
ETF
demand. 

Spot
Ethereum
ETF
scenarios

With
a
rebound
in
spot
Bitcoin
ETF
inflows
and
Bitcoin’s
price
recovery,
the
Fineqia
International
analyst
opined
that
attention
will
also
expand
to
spot
Ethereum
(ETH)
ETFs. 

The
U.S.
SEC
is
scheduled
to
finalize
its
decision
on
filings
from
VanEck
and
ARK
21Shares
on
May
23
and
May
24
respectively.
“Market
participants
expect
the
SEC
to
withhold
approval
for
these
products,
despite
approving
BTC
ETFs
in
January,”
Greco
explained,
echoing
predictions
from

Bloomberg
experts.

Concerns
over
the
liquidity
of
ETH’s
spot
and
futures
markets,
along
with
its
previous
classification
as
a
security
by
the
SEC,
contribute
to
skepticism
about
swift
approval.
If
rejected,
issuers
would
need
to
resubmit
filings,
potentially
leading
to
approval
in
Q4
2024
or
Q1
2025
at
best.

Matteo
Greco,
Fineqia
International
research
analyst

Conversely,
the
SEC
could
also
approve
19b-4
filings
but
delay
greenlighting
S-1s.
19b-4
forms
are
used
to
propose
rule
changes
with
the
SEC,
while
S-1s
represent
registration
statements
required
of
firms
before
publicly
offering
securities. 

The
SEC
must
approve
both
firms
before
spot

Ethereum
ETFs
can
trade
on
U.S.
national
exchanges.
Greco
noted
that
if
the
SEC
takes
this
route,
the
commission
could
leverage
the
time
to
further
assess
the
Ethereum
market
and
possibly
conclude
on
ETH’s
status
as
a
security
or
not.