Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest crypto asset manager, Chief Executive Michael Sonnenshein stepped down from his position. The firm announced that Peter Mintzberg will take over as CEO from August 15, 2024. This comes in when Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) is getting tough competition from BlackRock.
Grayscale CEO bids adieu
Barry Silbert CEO of Digital Currency Group stated that he want to thank Michael for his stewardship as he guided Grayscale from $60 million to $30 billion of assets under management. This also includes the historic court victory against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which helped the firm to uplist the first spot Bitcoin ETF to NYSE Arca.
Michael Sonnenshein in a post stated that he is leaving Grayscale with deep gratitude for everyone who has been on this incredible rocket ship journey. He went on to thank Barry Silbert for taking a bet on him and for his partnership these last 10 years.
This comes in when the entire crypto market expects Bitcoin ETFs to recover soon. Farside data highlights a good amount of inflow into Bitcoin ETFs over five consecutive trading days. The inflow has gone on to hit over $948.3 million. This period beginning from March 11 to March 15 resulted in an unprecedented accumulation.
Wassup with Bitcoin funds?
On May 17 alone, BTC ETFs saw net inflows of $221.5 million, with eight out of 11 ETFs recording positive inflows. Fidelity’s FBTC led with $99.4 million, totaling $8.5 billion in net inflows. BlackRock’s IBIT followed with $38.1 million, totaling $15.6 billion. Grayscale’s GBTC continued its positive momentum with $31.6 million in inflows, despite total outflows of $17.6 billion. Overall, the ETFs have a net total of $12.6 billion in inflows.
Grayscale’s GBTC was the only ETF to register net outflows, losing $50.9 million on a single day but recovered with $63.2 million in inflows during the week, resulting in a net weekly inflow of $12.3 million, a first for the product since its conversion.
Despite recent inflow dominance shifts, BlackRock’s IBIT achieved a record market share by trading volume at 55.2%, significantly reducing Grayscale’s GBTC share from 50.5% to 18.5% since January 11. Fidelity’s FBTC holds a 17.7% market share.
In terms of assets under management, BlackRock’s IBIT is rapidly closing in on Grayscale. IBIT now holds 276,759 BTC ($18.6 billion), compared to GBTC’s 288,954 BTC ($19.4 billion).
