Long-serving CFO of Grayscale Departs, Financial Executives Temporarily Take Over
Grayscale Investments Sponsors disclosed in a recent securities filing that Edward McGee, its long-serving Chief Financial Officer, departed on July 2 for personal reasons and had no disagreements with the company. The company promptly appointed two financial executives, Kathryn Masci and Daniel Plourde, as interim co-CFOs, with Masci also serving as Chief Financial and Accounting Officer. McGee had held the position since 2019, and his departure comes amid the company's IPO plans being postponed due to market conditions.
Key Takeaways
- Grayscale Investments Sponsors announced in a recent securities filing that longtime Chief Financial Officer Edward McGee has stepped down, and the company has appointed two current finance executives to temporarily take over financial duties.
- McGee, who had served as the finance chief of the crypto asset management firm since 2019, left the company on July 2 for personal reasons. A filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) late last week showed that his departure was not due to any disagreements with the company and that he "left on good terms."
- Kathryn Masci and Daniel Plourde, who have served as Senior Vice Presidents of Finance since January, have been appointed interim co-CFOs to succeed McGee. According to the filing, Masci will also serve as Chief Financial and Accounting Officer.
In-Depth Analysis
McGee's departure comes nearly a year after the Stamford, Connecticut-based company announced it had "confidentially" submitted a draft S-1 registration statement. According to a press release at the time, Grayscale filed the document last summer. CoinDesk reported that Grayscale is one of many crypto companies planning to go public but delaying their IPOs due to market conditions.
Bitcoin's price has fallen about 42% over the past 12 months to approximately $64,000, despite rising above $120,000 last fall.
Grayscale said in a statement emailed to CFO Dive on Friday that it could not comment on the IPO due to the SEC-imposed quiet period. The company also thanked McGee for his contributions and wished him well.
"We have a strong leadership team, and Kathryn Masci and Daniel Plourde will serve as interim co-CFOs while we search for a successor. Our strategy remains unchanged, and we will continue to build on our success as the world's largest digital asset investment platform." — Grayscale company statement
Before joining Grayscale, McGee spent more than four years at Goldman Sachs, focusing on accounting policy; prior to that, he worked at Ernst & Young for three years.
In 2022, during his tenure at Grayscale, McGee advocated for the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to develop specific accounting guidance for digital assets. That same year, after the FASB moved forward with updating accounting standards to make fair value the primary accounting method for measuring certain crypto assets, McGee expressed appreciation for the move.
"From an accounting perspective, even with fair value, does it address all the nuances—including the scope of assets and the potential differences between digital assets and other assets on the balance sheet? No. But am I incredibly excited about the progress they've made? Absolutely," McGee told CFO Dive in 2023. "I think the FASB rose to the occasion."