Grayscale Investments, whose application to turn its Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a U.S. spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) is being considered by the Securities and Exchange Commission, said Barry Silbert resigned as chairman and will be replaced by Mark Shifke.

Shikfe, DCG's chief financial officer, will replace Silbert as of Jan. 1, Grayscale said in an SEC filing without giving a reason for the changes. Mark Murphy, DCG's president, also resigned from the board.

The SEC has delayed several ETF applications including those of Grayscale, BlackRock, Ark 21shares, Vaneck and Hashdex, many of which have met with the regulator and filed amended documentation as year-end approaches. The agency must approve or reject Ark 21Shares, the first deadline to approach, by Jan. 10.

Silbert's Digital Currency Group (DCG), which owns Grayscale, was sued in October by New York Attorney General Letitia James for allegedly defrauding more than 230,000 investors, including at least 29,000 New Yorkers, of more than $1 billion. James also charged Silbert with defrauding the public by trying to conceal heavy losses. DCG and Silbert rejected the allegations.

Matt Kummell, senior vice president of operations at DCG, and Edward McGee, Grayscale's CFO, also join the board.

"Aligned with Grayscale’s commitment to responsible growth, we are pleased to welcome Mark Shifke, Matt Kummell and Edward McGee to Grayscale’s board of directors," a Grayscale spokeswoman said. "Grayscale and our investors will benefit from their respective experiences in the financial services and asset management industries as we prepare for Grayscale’s next chapter."

UPDATE (Dec. 26, 14:00 UTC): Adds rejection of allegations in second paragraph, Mark Murphy resignation in third.

UPDATE (DEC. 26, 14:21 UTC): Adds SEC delay, amended filings, approval deadline in third paragraph.

UPDATE (DEC. 26, 15:04 UTC): Adds new board members, Grayscale comment.

Grayscale Barry Silbert ETFs Management

Sheldon Reback

Sheldon Reback is CoinDesk's European news editor. Before joining the company, he spent 26 years as an editor at Bloomberg News, where he worked on beats as diverse as stock markets and the retail industry as well as covering the dot-com bubble of 2000-2002. He subsequently managed the Bloomberg Terminal's main news page before becoming the European editor for a global project to produce short, chart-based stories across the newsroom. His previous work as a journalist took him to Hong Kong, where he reported and edited for several technology magazines, and he also has experience in market research and writing computer manuals. Sheldon has an MBA from the London Business School and an industrial chemistry degree from Brunel University. He owns a small amount of ether.