Latest news with #GrayscaleInvestments
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
David Kinitsky Joins Everstake as CEO to Drive Institutional Growth, Investment and Global Expansion
Miami, FL, June 12th, 2025, Chainwire Everstake, a leading global non-custodial staking provider serving both retail and institutional clients, has announced the appointment of David Kinitsky as Chief Executive Officer. David Kinitsky succeeds Sergii Vasylchuk, who founded Everstake in 2018 and will now transition to the role of its President. This leadership change marks a strategic milestone as Everstake accelerates its expansion into institutional and broader global markets. David Kinitsky brings deep experience in crypto and financial innovation, having held leadership roles at several of the industry's most influential companies. He was the founding General Manager of Grayscale Investments, now one of the world's largest digital asset managers, and previously led operations for SecondMarket, the private market platform later acquired by NASDAQ. He also held executive roles at Fidelity Investments, Circle, and Kraken, where he served as CEO of Kraken Financial Bank, the first crypto firm to receive a U.S. banking charter. These roles underscore his deep familiarity with building innovative businesses and investment products, while navigating emerging regulatory frameworks in both traditional finance and digital asset markets. 'David brings a rare combination of creativity, deep institutional experience, and a strong values-first mindset. We spent a long time searching for someone who not only shares the core of the blockchain industry but also knows how to navigate regulated environments at scale,' said Sergii Vasylchuk. 'Everstake was built in 'cockroach mode'—under the pressure of regulatory uncertainty, in a world full of skepticism about Web3, and without a dollar of outside funding. I took it from zero to one. Now, as institutional adoption grows and the rules of the game become clearer, I'm proud to hand this company over to a true professional who shares our ethos and has the experience to take Everstake from one to one hundred.' 'With a track record of profitability and technical excellence, Everstake has already established itself as a premier staking and network service provider,' said David Kinitsky. 'As staking becomes central to institutional crypto strategy and an investable asset in its own right, now we're taking Everstake to the next level: reinvesting in the core staking business, scaling to meet institutional demand, and thoughtfully expanding into adjacent opportunities across infrastructure, data, and financial products.' Over the years, Everstake has supported more than 85 blockchain networks, onboarded over 735,000 users into staking, and secured $6.5 billion in delegated assets–all without compromising on decentralization. David Kinitsky's appointment further strengthens Everstake's leadership in advancing the future of non-custodial staking and driving institutional blockchain adoption. The leadership transition comes as regulators, including the SEC, begin to issue more definitive guidelines for digital assets, including staking. Everstake has long taken a leadership role in shaping the regulatory dialogue, including direct engagement with the SEC's Crypto Task Force. As clearer rules emerge, the company remains committed to helping shape policy that reflects the realities of blockchain technology while continuing to educate and collaborate with global regulators. 'With growing regulatory clarity, Everstake is uniquely positioned to lead the industry with a compliant, scalable, and transparent approach to staking and crypto network infrastructure,' added David Kinitsky. About Everstake Everstake is a leading global non-custodial staking provider, enabling secure and scalable access to over 85 Proof-of-Stake networks for both institutional and retail clients. Founded in 2018 by blockchain engineers, the company supports more than 735,000 delegators, $6.5 billion in staked assets, and 40,000+ active validators — delivering institutional-grade infrastructure with 99.9% uptime and zero material slashing events since inception. Trusted by asset managers, custodians, wallets, exchanges, and protocols, Everstake offers API-first, compliant infrastructure backed by SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001:2022 certifications, GDPR compliance, and regular smart contract audits. Its globally distributed team of 100+ professionals is committed to making staking accessible to everyone while strengthening the foundations of decentralized finance. Everstake is a software platform that provides infrastructure tools and resources for users but does not offer investment advice or investment opportunities, manage funds, facilitate collective investment schemes, provide financial services, or take custody of or otherwise hold or manage customer assets. Everstake does not conduct independent diligence or substantive review of any blockchain asset, digital currency, cryptocurrency, or associated funds. Everstake's provision of technology services allowing users to stake digital assets is not an endorsement or a recommendation of any digital asset. Users are fully and solely responsible for evaluating whether to stake digital assets. Contact PR Manager
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Grayscale Seeks SEC Approval for Ethereum Staking
Grayscale Investments, which manages the Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHE) and the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust ETF (ETH), has formally approached the Securities and Exchange Commission to allow Ethereum staking capabilities in its exchange-traded products, according to documents submitted to the regulator in April. The asset manager, whose ETHE and ETH represent nearly 50% of all Ethereum assets in U.S. ETPs, argues that current restrictions put American investors at a disadvantage compared to international markets where staking is permitted. Staking is a function of the Ethereum protocol that allows holders to participate in validating transactions on the network. In its presentation to the SEC's Crypto Task Force, Grayscale outlined how U.S. Ethereum ETPs have foregone approximately $61 million in potential staking rewards since their launch through February 2025. If the prohibition continues, Grayscale projects ETPs could miss out on $5.5 billion in staking benefits over the next decade when factoring in daily compounding. At the heart of Grayscale's proposal is addressing a key technical challenge: the time mismatch between ETF redemptions and Ethereum's unstaking process. While ETF share redemptions typically settle in one business day, unstaking Ethereum can take approximately 10 days under normal conditions. This creates a potential liquidity hurdle for ETPs that want to both maximize staking rewards and maintain sufficient assets for redemptions. "ETH does not leave the Trust's wallet at the Custodian during this process; however, staked ETH is not transferable until it becomes unstaked," Grayscale explains in its presentation. To solve this, Grayscale proposes maintaining a "Liquidity Sleeve" of unstaked Ethereum to handle redemptions, along with potential short-term financing arrangements with custodians and liquidity providers. The company also suggests a revolving credit facility as a backstop for extreme scenarios. Data analysis presented by Grayscale indicates that ETH ETP redemptions have generally been moderate, with the largest funds experiencing a maximum 10-day drawdown of 6.7% and an average redemption size under 3% of fund assets. The company notes that European ETPs that offer staking have demonstrated "their ability to stake and efficiently track NAV, with tight spreads and a functional creation-redemption arbitrage mechanism," suggesting the model can work effectively in regulated products. NYSE Arca has already submitted an amended Form 19b-4 application requesting the rule change that would permit staking in Grayscale's Ethereum | © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Grayscale Seeks SEC Approval for Ethereum Staking
Grayscale Investments, which manages the Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHE) and the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust ETF (ETH), has formally approached the Securities and Exchange Commission to allow Ethereum staking capabilities in its exchange-traded products, according to documents submitted to the regulator in April. The asset manager, whose ETHE and ETH represent nearly 50% of all Ethereum assets in U.S. ETPs, argues that current restrictions put American investors at a disadvantage compared to international markets where staking is permitted. Staking is a function of the Ethereum protocol that allows holders to participate in validating transactions on the network. In its presentation to the SEC's Crypto Task Force, Grayscale outlined how U.S. Ethereum ETPs have foregone approximately $61 million in potential staking rewards since their launch through February 2025. If the prohibition continues, Grayscale projects ETPs could miss out on $5.5 billion in staking benefits over the next decade when factoring in daily compounding. At the heart of Grayscale's proposal is addressing a key technical challenge: the time mismatch between ETF redemptions and Ethereum's unstaking process. While ETF share redemptions typically settle in one business day, unstaking Ethereum can take approximately 10 days under normal conditions. This creates a potential liquidity hurdle for ETPs that want to both maximize staking rewards and maintain sufficient assets for redemptions. "ETH does not leave the Trust's wallet at the Custodian during this process; however, staked ETH is not transferable until it becomes unstaked," Grayscale explains in its presentation. To solve this, Grayscale proposes maintaining a "Liquidity Sleeve" of unstaked Ethereum to handle redemptions, along with potential short-term financing arrangements with custodians and liquidity providers. The company also suggests a revolving credit facility as a backstop for extreme scenarios. Data analysis presented by Grayscale indicates that ETH ETP redemptions have generally been moderate, with the largest funds experiencing a maximum 10-day drawdown of 6.7% and an average redemption size under 3% of fund assets. The company notes that European ETPs that offer staking have demonstrated "their ability to stake and efficiently track NAV, with tight spreads and a functional creation-redemption arbitrage mechanism," suggesting the model can work effectively in regulated products. NYSE Arca has already submitted an amended Form 19b-4 application requesting the rule change that would permit staking in Grayscale's Ethereum | © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What Is TAO, the Bittensor Token Causing Friction Between Barry Silbert and Bitcoiners?
TAO, the native token of AI-focused blockchain Bittensor, has been causing tension on X between Digital Currency Group founder Barry Silbert and staunch supporters of bitcoin (BTC), the original and largest cryptocurrency. Author and bitcoin supporter Parker Lewis called Silbert and Raoul Pal, the presenter of The Journey Man podcast, a group of "affinity scammers" for promoting TAO on a recent episode. Silbert responded by writing: "calling $TAO a scam is such a lazy attack. do better" Grayscale Investments, one of Digital Currency Group's subsidiaries, runs a Bittensor Trust that currently has around $8 million in assets under management. It also has a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (GBTC) with $16.6 billion under management as well as a bitcoin mini trust ETF. Silbert sparked the bitcoiners' ire by comparing Bittensor to the Bitcoin blockchain. "It's just like bitcoin, there was a white paper that turned into code then launched and it has the same token economics," he said in the podcast. While there are some similarities to BTC in that TAO's supply is capped at 21 million tokens and it goes through block reward halving events, there are also stark differences in terms of the project's ethos and use case. Bittensor is a decentralized network that merges blockchain technology with machine learning. It was designed to become a peer-to-peer AI market, where users can share and monetize AI models. Bitcoin was spawned out of the Libertarian cypherpunk era and designed primarily as a peer-to-peer payment method that avoided government-issued currency. In recent years has also emerged a store of value, becoming a mainstay on company balance sheets to mitigate rising inflation. The TAO token was released two years ago and has experienced extreme volatility, rising to above $700 on two occasions in 2024 before cratering to around $200 both times. It was trading recently around $339. Bitcoin, meanwhile, has risen from $22,000 since the start of 2023 to as high as $109,000 in January. While it's had its ups and downs, they're not as marked as the plunges typically seen across the altcoin market. Bitcoin is currently priced around $90,000 with a market cap about $1.8 trillion. TAO has a market cap around $2.98 billion, according to data on CoinMarketCap. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Grayscale files for Solana ETF amid rising interest in bitcoin alternatives
(Reuters) - Grayscale Investments said on Friday it has filed an application with U.S. regulators for an exchange-traded fund aimed at a Solana blockchain, as the cryptocurrency asset manager looks to tap into the increasing momentum around bitcoin alternatives. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to approve any Solana ETF applications, the first of which arrived last summer. Solana is often used to launch meme coins, including Trump's own cryptocurrency, which the president unveiled in January. A relatively newer player in crypto, Solana saw its token price soar in 2021 when it was talked up as a rival to ether and its growing use in the then-booming non-fungible tokens (NFTs) market. Trump identified five digital assets - bitcoin, ether, XRP, Solana and cardano - for inclusion in a government reserve, spiking their market values. Fintech giant PayPal also said on Friday it is expanding its cryptocurrency offerings with new tokens including Solana. Sign in to access your portfolio
