Barry Silbert Returns to Grayscale as Chairman

Grayscale Investments has appointed four new senior executives and reinstated founder Barry Silbert as board chairman following its confidential initial public offering filing last month. The new hires include Diana Zhang as Chief Operating Officer, Ramona Boston as Chief Marketing Officer, Andrea Williams as Chief Communications Officer, and Maxwell Rosenthal as Chief Human Resources Officer. All four report to Grayscale CEO Peter Mintzberg and come with extensive experience from leading traditional finance firms, including Bridgewater Associates, Apollo Global Management, Goldman Sachs, and Citadel. Zhang, formerly the COO at BlockTower Capital and deputy to the co-CEO at Bridgewater, is joined by Boston, who was responsible for client marketing at Apollo; Williams, who enhanced communications at Oaktree and later led media relations for Goldman Sachs; and Rosenthal, who was head of global credit people at Citadel. Silbert, who founded Grayscale in 2013, takes over from Mark Shifke as chairman. Shifke remains on the board, now comprising five members, with plans to potentially add independent directors. Silbert stepped down as Grayscale's chairman at the end of 2023, shortly before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's deadline to rule on several spot Bitcoin ETF applications, including Grayscale’s GBTC conversion. His departure was also linked to heightened scrutiny of Digital Currency Group (DCG), Grayscale’s parent company, which faced lawsuits from the New York Attorney General concerning the collapse of its lending arm, Genesis, and issues related to the Gemini Earn program. Silbert was personally named in the complaint. “I'm honored to rejoin the Grayscale board at a defining moment for both the company and the broader digital asset ecosystem,” Silbert stated. “I continue to have deep conviction in the company’s long-term positioning and in the leadership team guiding it forward.” Grayscale offers over three dozen products, including spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, and diversified crypto funds, managing more than $35 billion in assets.