Grayscale Setting Up for Bitcoin ETF Race by Hiring Industry Veteran from Invesco

Crypto asset manager Grayscale has hired former Invesco Head of Americas John Hoffman to lead its distribution and partnerships team, six weeks before a decision is set to come out on whether the company will be allowed to launch a spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded-fund (ETF).

Hoffman – an ETF veteran – spent over 17 years at investment manager Invesco, first as the director of ETF institutional sales and capital markets at Invesco PowerShares Capital Management, before moving into an adviser role and most recently, leading the Americas, ETF and indexed strategies team.

“The Grayscale team is thrilled to have John Hoffman join us as Managing Director and Head of Distribution and Strategic Partnerships. John has a wealth of industry and ETF expertise, which will be invaluable to our team and clients, especially during this exciting time at Grayscale,” Dave LaValle, Global Head of ETFs at Grayscale said.

Invesco is one of the biggest issuers of ETFs in the U.S. with currently over 200 ETFs traded on U.S. markets and roughly $425 billion in assets under management (AUM).

The company recently suffered another big departure. Anna Paglia, who served as global head of ETFs, indexed strategies, SMAs and models at Invesco for the past seven years, left to join State Street Global Advisors – the investment management division of State Street – as executive vice president and chief business officer.

Grayscale is hoping to convert its GBTC bitcoin trust into an ETF in January, when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decides whether to approve the launch of 13 potential spot bitcoin ETFs, including that of BlackRock, Invesco, and Franklin, among others.