Mark Shifke will succeed Barry Silbert as chairman of Grayscale Investments, whose application to the Securities and Exchange Commission to convert its Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a U.S. spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) is now under review.Commencing on January 1, Grayscale announced in an SEC filing that Shikfe, DCG’s chief financial officer, will take Silbert’s post. No explanation was provided for the move.Also quitting from the board was Mark Murphy, the president of DCG.
A number of ETF applications have been delayed by the SEC, including those of Hashdex, Vaneck, BlackRock, Grayscale, and Ark 21shares. As year-end draws near, many of these companies have met with the regulator and submitted updated documents.The first date to approach is January 10th, by which the agency must either accept or reject Ark 21Shares.
Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, filed a lawsuit against Silbert’s Digital Currency Group (DCG), the owner of Grayscale, in October. The lawsuit claimed that DCG had defrauded over 230,000 investors, including at least 29,000 New Yorkers, of over $1 billion.James further accused Silbert of attempting to conceal significant losses in order to deceive the public.The accusations were denied by Silbert and DCG.