Barry Silbert, the chairman of Grayscale Investments, surprised the cryptocurrency community on Tuesday, December 26, by resigning from the board of directors. Top market investor and CEO of Lumida Wealth Management Ram Ahluwalia thinks that although this significant change comes at a critical moment for the company, it may have simply increased the likelihood that Grayscale Investments will receive approval for its application to convert its flagship Bitcoin Trust into a spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF).
According to Ahluwalia, Grayscale now has more autonomy thanks to Barry Silbert’s resignation, which may help boost the SEC’s (the US Securities and Exchange Commission) trust as it starts its last examination of the several spot Bitcoin ETF applications it has received.
Given that Barry Silbert is the subject of many investigations about his participation in Genesis Global’s collapse and his failure to disclose the parent firm, the Digital Currency Group (DCG),’s health state, his involvement in the business may provide complex challenges.
Ahluwalia thinks there is a better chance that Grayscale Investments will approve the proposal for a spot Bitcoin ETF because of Barry Silbert’s resignation and their faith in Michael Sonneshein.
https://x.com/ramahluwalia/status/1739662164313473303?s=20
Grayscale made the right concessions
To improve its chances of being approved in the first round of applications that will be reviewed, Grayscale Investments has updated its S-3 file with the SEC to indicate that it is prepared to adopt the markets regulator’s “Cash Creates” redemption model.
As previously reported, the SEC allowed all applicants for Bitcoin ETFs until December 29 if they wanted to be taken into consideration for the first round of approvals, which is expected to happen in January. According to the update, Grayscale Investments changed its position, which was unusual, as the SEC allegedly stated that it might not accept the in-kind redemption mechanism that prioritises Bitcoin.
