Barry Silbert nets $755,000 from sale of Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust shares

Barry Silbert, founder of DCG, liquidated 120,000 shares of ETCG Grayscale Investments, the subsidiary led by the group he runs. This follows from an SEC filing.

The position was valued at $755,295.

This is the first time Silbert has disposed of this instrument. The DCG CEO bought the securities in a series of trades between 2017 and 2018.

Grayscale Investments launched ETCG in April 2017. Since then, the price of its shares has risen by 323.4%. AUM of the trust stands at $225.8 million, with the aggregate across all 17 products run by the sponsor — $24.5 billion.

Recently DCG told investors of a $180 million profit in Q1 2023 — 63% higher than in the prior reporting period.

On November 16, 2022, Genesis Global Capital, part of the group, froze withdrawals and the issuance of new loans. The firm cited heightened withdrawal requests after the FTX collapse.

In January 2023, Genesis Global Holdco and its subsidiaries Genesis Asia Pacific and Genesis Global Capital filed for bankruptcy. According to media reports, their liabilities exceed $3 billion.

A month later, DCG and its bankrupt Genesis group companies reached a deal in principle on the terms of a restructuring plan with major creditors.

In April, the latter group rejected the February-agreed deal and pressed new demands.

In May, DCG, Genesis, and the creditors’ committee (including the Gemini exchange) agreed to launch a 30-day pre-litigation mediation process.