Barry Silbert Resigns as Chairman of Grayscale Investments, Mark Shifke to Take Over

Barry Silbert, the chairman of Grayscale Investments, has resigned from his position and will be replaced by Mark Shifke, the chief financial officer of Grayscale owner DCG. The announcement came as Grayscale’s application to convert its Bitcoin Trust into a U.S. spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) is being considered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The reason for Silbert’s resignation was not disclosed in the SEC filing.

In addition to Silbert’s departure, Mark Murphy, the president of DCG, also resigned from the board. These changes come at a time when the SEC has been delaying several ETF applications, including those of Grayscale, BlackRock, Ark 21shares, Vaneck, and Hashdex. Many of these companies have met with the regulator and filed amended documentation as the year-end approaches. The SEC must make a decision on Ark 21Shares by January 10, which is the first deadline approaching.

The past 24 hours have seen a marketwide decline in the crypto market due to high funding rates, relatively low liquidity, and reports of Mt. Gox starting repayments to victims of its 2014 hack. This decline has resulted in losses for leveraged bullish traders. In the futures market, traders who bet on higher prices lost over $190 million to liquidations as Bitcoin dropped by as much as 4% before recovering. Altcoin-tracked futures accounted for $45 million of those losses, while Bitcoin liquidations accounted for $36 million. Solana’s SOL tokens and Bitcoin protocol Ordinals (ORDI) also experienced significant losses.

Crypto exchange Binance saw the highest amount of liquidations among counterparties, totaling over $97 million. This market downturn has raised concerns about the stability and volatility of the crypto market.

In South Korea, new legislation is set to increase transparency by making the crypto and other asset holdings of approximately 5,800 public officials available to the public. Starting next year, public officials will be required to disclose their assets through the Public Official Ethics System (PETI), providing the public with access to this information. This move aims to enhance transparency and accountability among public officials.

The chart of the day shows a seven-day moving average of transaction fees paid on the Bitcoin blockchain since January. On December 20, the average transaction fee reached its highest level since 2018, standing at 445.59 BTC. This increase in fees is attributed to the rising popularity of Ordinals, which has led to blockchain congestion.

It is important to note that the information provided in this article does not constitute financial advice. The article is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for making investment decisions. Readers are advised to do their own research and consult with a professional financial advisor before making any investment decisions.