Digital Currency Group, the battered crypto conglomerate run by Barry Silbert, named financial services veteran Mark Shifke as chief financial officer.
(Bloomberg) — Digital Currency Group, the battered crypto conglomerate run by Barry Silbert, named financial services veteran Mark Shifke as chief financial officer.
In its second-quarter shareholder letter distributed Monday, DCG also said that it’s close to settling with the creditors of its bankrupt subsidiary Genesis Global Holdco.
“After months of tireless negotiations led by DCG leadership, we are close to reaching an agreement in principle to resolve the claims in the Genesis Capital Chapter 11 cases,” the letter said. “We expect to bring these cases to a close soon and will provide material updates as the process finalizes.”
One of Genesis’s biggest creditors, crypto exchange Gemini Trust, on Friday said it “remains frustrated” with Genesis and its creditors committees for being unable to advance or disclose a deal that has been purportedly “‘close’ two weeks ago.” Gemini didn’t immediately return a request for comment on Monday.
The lending subsidiary Genesis Global Holdco filed for bankruptcy in January. Gemini Trust, which is controlled by the billionaire Winklevoss brothers, filed a lawsuit earlier this month against Digital Currency Group and Silbert, alleging “fraud and deception” stemming from a failed lending venture between the two firms. A spokesperson for DCG at the time called the lawsuit “a publicity stunt,” adding that “any suggestion of wrongdoing by DCG or any of its employees is baseless, defamatory, and completely false.”
Shifke has almost four decades of experience in finance and most recently served as CFO at Billtrust, DCG said in a statement Monday. He also served as CFO at mobile banking and prepaid debit-card provider Green Dot, and worked at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Former CFO Michael Kraines left in April after more than two years.
In recent months, DCG had shut down several businesses, including TradeBlock subsidiary that provided trade execution. It also is said to be near a deal to sell media property CoinDesk to a syndicate of investors. Last week, Genesis said it reached a preliminary agreement to resolve dispute with creditor FTX.
DCG is also the parent company of a number of other subsidiaries, including crypto-asset manager Grayscale Investments and crypto miner Foundry.
DCG posted revenue of $216 million in the second quarter, up 17% sequentially, according to its shareholder letter. The private company said it had a consolidated quarterly loss of around $79 million, primarily driven by a $113 million expense related to a one-time counterparty default at Genesis. The loss is on an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization basis.
(Adds comments form Genesis, beginning in the second paragraph.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.