Grayscale Hires Former U.S. Solicitor General Amid Delay in GBTC-to-ETF Conversion

Donald B. Verrilli Jr. joined Grayscale Investments’ team overseeing digital assets as counsel, according to Jennifer Rosenthal, the company’s vice president of corporate communications.

Today, @Grayscale announced that we’ve retained former Solicitor General under the Obama Administration, Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., as additional legal counsel.

— Jennifer Rosenthal (@jenn_rosenthal) June 7, 2022

From 2011 to 2016 Verrilli Jr. served as the Solicitor General under the Obama administration. Before that, he held the post of Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice.

The vice-president stressed Grayscale Investments’ “unwavering commitment” to converting GBTC into an ETF based on the first cryptocurrency. According to her, the hired specialist “possesses a comprehensive, multidimensional understanding of the U.S. regulatory framework and the country’s legal system”.

Grayscaleapplied to convert the Bitcoin Trust into an ETF in October 2021. In February 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissiondelayed its decision until July 6.

At the end of March, Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein said he was prepared to sue the regulator in the event of a denial.

Earlier, SEC Chair Gary Gensler noted that for possible approval of bitcoin-based ETFs their underlying assets must be bitcoin futures CME.

He also mentioned filing under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Subsequently, based on this, the regulator allowed trading of bitcoin futures ETFs from VanEck, Valkyrie Investments and ProShares.

In early April, the SEC approved the Teucrium product. It complies with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as does Grayscale’s filing.

In April, Grayscale urged the SEC to convert the Bitcoin Trust into an ETF after Teucrium’s approval.

Follow ForkLog news on Telegram: ForkLog Feed — all the news, ForkLog — the most important news, infographics and opinions.