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EX-GRAYSCALE CEO SHIFTS FOCUS TO TOKENIZATION

Michael Sonnenshein thinks bringing RWAs onchain “is one of the most exciting
frontiers in the broader blockchain and digital assets space”

by Ben Strack /
December 12, 2024 04:30 pm

Former Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein | Ben Solomon Photo LLC for Blockworks

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This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions,
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grayscale-related headlines have been aplenty this year, from GBTC’s conversion
to an ETF, its outflows, the product’s spin-off, more filings and trust
launches, yada yada.  

A tangential update (also surfacing today) is that Grayscale’s former CEO,
Michael Sonnenshein, joined Securitize as its chief operating officer. 

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So the ex-leader of one of the largest crypto asset managers shifts his focus to
bringing real-world assets (RWA) onchain — “which candidly I think is one of the
most exciting frontiers in the broader blockchain and digital assets space,”
Sonnenshein told me this morning.  

While at Grayscale, Sonnenshein worked on bringing digital assets into more
traditional wrappers. At Securitize, he acknowledged, it’ll pretty much be the
other way around.   

The tokenized RWA market has lots of room to run before some lofty projections
are met. One point of agreement at Brooklyn’s RWA Summit I attended in October
was that the specific utility and benefits (and the economics behind that) will
be what drives tokenization forward. 



Tokenized fiat currencies (aka stablecoins, a roughly $200 billion market) are
well-established. Securitize helped BlackRock tokenize its USD Institutional
Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) in March, which has helped spotlight another use
case.   

After all, US Treasurys (which BUIDL is backed by) are the collateral serving as
the “substrate” for many capital markets transactions, Sonnenshein said. 

He added: “Continuing to build products that can address some of the
inefficiencies and … move into offerings where the underlying assets are not
dollars, but instead yield-bearing assets, I think is a very, very attractive
value proposition.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross.
Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and
finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward
Guidance newsletter.

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highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

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Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

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 * Grayscale
 * Securitize
 * Tokenization

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