Grayscale brings back Barry Silbert, adds Wall Street leaders

Grayscale Investments has expanded its government crew and board as a part of its “subsequent section of progress,” including 4 monetary trade veterans to key management roles and reappointing founder Barry Silbert as board chairman.

The expanded management crew consists of Diana Zhang as chief working officer, Ramona Boston as chief advertising and marketing officer, Andrea Williams as chief communications officer and Maxwell Rosenthal as chief human sources officer.

The newly appointed executives come from conventional finance agency like Bridgewater, Apollo, Goldman Sachs and Citadel.

Grayscale’s founder returns as chairman of the board

Grayscale, based in 2013 by Barry Silbert, is without doubt one of the longest-standing crypto funding firms within the trade. It launched the primary publicly traded Bitcoin funding car within the US by means of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which started buying and selling publicly on OTC Markets in 2015.

It manages over $35 billion in assets across four crypto ETFs, together with newly transformed spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) merchandise.

Silbert’s return as chairman of the board comes when Grayscale is positioning itself extra aggressively in opposition to conventional finance giants within the crypto ETF race. 

Whereas Grayscale launched the primary Bitcoin funding car within the US, it now faces stiff competitors from newer entrants like BlackRock and Fidelity, whose lower-fee spot Bitcoin ETFs have rapidly gained market share.

“Once I based Grayscale in 2013, we noticed an infinite alternative to pioneer a brand new mannequin for accessing and investing in digital belongings,” Silbert stated. “In the present day, I proceed to have deep conviction within the firm’s long-term positioning and within the management crew guiding it ahead.”

At the moment, Grayscale’s spot bitcoin ETF (GBTC) brings in additional income than another Bitcoin ETF, incomes $268.5 million yearly, thanks largely to its 1.5% price, which is as much as six occasions increased than opponents like BlackRock’s IBIT or Constancy’s FBTC.

Whereas its market share has fallen to about 5% of the US spot Bitcoin ETF market, the upper charges means it nonetheless outpaces rivals’ income, even after over $21 billion in outflows.

Crypto companies flip to Wall Street expertise

A number of crypto firms are bringing in conventional finance veterans as they put together for broader mainstream adoption, pushed by a wave of pro-crypto laws and rising regulatory readability within the US.

In 2024, Kraken bolstered its management with hires from conventional finance. Gilles BianRosa, former chief product officer at neobank N26, grew to become chief working and product officer. Marcus Hughes, with expertise at Morgan Stanley and Coinbase, was named international head of regulatory technique.

Galaxy Digital has additionally tapped conventional finance expertise to help its institutional growth. In late 2024 it employed Tony Paquette, former chief monetary officer at hedge fund Point72 and ex-JPMorgan government, as its chief financial officer.

The agency additionally secured a UK derivatives buying and selling license in early 2025 and expanded its London presence, aligning with its technique to serve international institutional purchasers.

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