Barry Silbert Steps Down As Grayscale Investments' Chairman Of The Board

Grayscale Investments, the cryptocurrency firm that wanted to transform its Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), revealed Tuesday that Barry Silbert resigned from his post as the chairman of the board of directors.

Silbert, who is the CEO of the Digital Currency Group (DCG), the parent company of Grayscale, is stepping down from his post as the chairman of the board of directors, effective Jan. 1, 2024, the firm's 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday.

"On December 26, 2023, Grayscale Investments, LLC, the sponsor (the "Sponsor") of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (BTC), announced that Barry E. Silbert and Mark Murphy notified the sole member of Sponsor (the "Sole Member") of their resignation from the board of directors of the Sponsor (the "Board") effective January 1, 2024 and that the Sole Member appointed Mark Shifke, Matthew Kummell and Edward McGee to the Board effective January 1, 2024. Mr. Shifke succeeds Mr. Silbert as Chairman of the Board. Effective January 1, 2024, the Board consists of Mr. Shifke, Mr. Kummell, Michael Sonnenshein, and Mr. McGee, who also retain the authority granted to them as officers under the limited liability company agreement of the Sponsor," Grayscale's SEC filing read.

The filing also revealed the resignation of DCG President Mark Murphy, but did not disclose the reason for the restructuring of the firm's board of directors.

Silbert's post on the board will be filled by Mark Shifke, the current Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of DCG with Matthew Kummell and Edward McGee joining the board.

It may be recalled that in October, New York's Attorney General Leticia James sued Silbert's DCG, which owned Grayscale, for allegedly defrauding over 230,000 investors, including around 29,000 based in New York of over $1 billion.

"These cryptocurrency companies lied to investors and tried to hide more than a billion dollars in losses, and it was middle-class investors who suffered as a result," Attorney General James said. "Hardworking New Yorkers and investors around the country lost more than a billion dollars because they were fed blatant lies that their money would be safe and grow if they invested it in Gemini Earn. Instead, Gemini hid the risks of investing with Genesis and Genesis lied to the public about its losses. This fraud is yet another example of bad actors causing harm throughout the under-regulated cryptocurrency industry. My office will continue our efforts to stop deceptive cryptocurrency companies and push for stronger regulations to protect all investors."

In July, U.S.-based centralized cryptocurrency exchange platform Gemini filed a lawsuit against Silbert and DCG, alleging that they not only misrepresented, but also omitted details to Gemini in a misleading, incomplete and deceptive manner.