Grayscale’s chief executive, Michael Sonnenshein, announced plans to step down on Monday. The CEO’s unexpected departure forced the asset manager to take decisive action to find the right candidate to succeed Sonnenshein. 

The Grayscale team confirmed that Edward McGee, the chief financial officer, will replace Sonnenshein. The CFO will act as the interim CEO for ninety days.

Grayscale’s CEO step down

The asset manager will appoint former Goldman Sach official Peter Mintzberg to succeed Michael Sonnenshein. A review of Mintzberg’s career history shows that the official worked at Goldman Sachs as the head of the asset and wealth management department.

Before joining Goldman Sachs, Mintzberg worked as the chief operating officer at BlackRock for seven years. He is an alumnus of Havard and Stanford University. His career has been upward since he left OppenheimerFunds as the head of strategy.

The leadership changes came at a time when Grayscale ranked among the largest asset managers, with over $50 billion in assets under management. 

Michael Sonnenshein joined Grayscale in 2014 as the account executive officer. His career took a turn in 2021 when he was appointed CEO. Sonnenshein’s role at the asset management company enabled Grayscale to attract success. 

New COO to replace the outgoing CEO

In March, Grayscale joined the 11 asset managers seeking to launch Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Michael Sonnenshein led the Grayscale team in exposing investors to Bitcoin even without engaging in buying and selling crypto assets. 

 A review of the Grayscale website demonstrated that the asset manager owns 287,801 Bitcoin worth $19.3 billion and has a 34.9% market share. Grayscale ranks among the leading asset managers with the highest Bitcoin holdings.

According to Dune, BlackRock’s Bitcoin holding reached 274,000 Bitcoins valued at $18.4 billion with a 33% market share. On X, the outgoing CEO described his experience at Grayscale as an incredible rocket ship journey.

Michael Sonnenshein was pleased to be part of the Grayscale team for nearly ten years. He described his colleagues as smart, intelligent, and passionate people committed to bringing prosperity to Grayscale. 

Sonnenshein recognized the remarkable efforts made by Grayscale co-founder Barry Silbert and thanked him for trusting his leadership at the company. He confessed that Silbert’s vision and commitment stimulated Grayscale’s growth.

He appreciated the Grayscale team’s support since 2014. In response to Sonnenshein, Silbert tweeted that working with the outgoing CEO was an honor.

He recognized that Michael Sonnenshein engaged in a wage war with the regulators to bring the Bitcoin ETF to the financial market. He noted that Sonnenshein led the Grayscale team to challenge the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decision on its GBTC offering.

The SEC had rejected the Grayscale application to provide the GBTC. After a lengthy court procession, the judge ruled in favor of Grayscale, mandating the SEC to revise the asset manager GBTC application.

Also read: SEC Reconsidering Denial of Spot Ether ETF