Peter Mintzberg

About Peter Mintzberg

Peter Mintzberg, 56, is Chief Executive Officer of Grayscale Investments Sponsors, LLC (the “Sponsor”) and a director of the Sponsor since August 2024, serving as principal executive officer for Grayscale Stellar Lumens Trust (GXLM) . He previously led Strategy for Asset & Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs, and held global leadership roles in Strategy, M&A, and Investor Relations at BlackRock, OppenheimerFunds, and Invesco; he began his career at McKinsey & Co. in New York, San Francisco, and São Paulo . Mintzberg earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro and an MBA from Harvard University . During his tenure, the company expanded its management team and board leadership and disclosed managing more than $35 billion across three dozen products as of August 2025 .

Past Roles

External Roles

Board Governance

• Current board roles: Director of the Sponsor and CEO since August 2024; signed GXLM’s FY2024 10-K certifications as principal executive officer of the Sponsor .
• Chairman: Barry Silbert appointed Chairman of the Sponsor’s Board on August 4, 2025; Mark Shifke remained a director .
• Board composition (FY2024): Mark Shifke (Chairman), Matthew Kummell, Peter Mintzberg (CEO), and Edward McGee (CFO) .
• Committees: The Sponsor has an Audit Committee comprising Edward McGee (CFO) and Hugh Ross (COO), overseeing GXLM’s financial reporting; committee memberships for Mintzberg are not disclosed .
• Dual role implications: Mintzberg’s CEO + director role means he is not independent; the Audit Committee is composed of Sponsor officers (CFO/COO), which may limit conventional independence typical of public-company audit committees .

Fixed Compensation

• Not disclosed in GXLM filings. The May 2024 appointment 8-K does not include compensation terms or an employment agreement summary for Mintzberg .

Performance Compensation

• Not disclosed. No RSU/PSU structures, option awards, performance metrics, or vesting schedules are provided in GXLM filings for Sponsor executives .

Equity Ownership & Alignment

• Directors and executive officers may invest personally in Grayscale products on substantially the same terms as other investors; these are ordinary-course investments .
• Pledging/transfer restrictions: The Trust Agreement prohibits shareholders from selling, assigning, transferring, or pledging Shares except as permitted; transfers require Sponsor approval .

Employment Terms

• Appointment: Mintzberg appointed CEO and Sponsor director effective August 15, 2024; the Sponsor CFO served as interim principal executive officer until that date .
• Role for GXLM: Serves as principal executive officer for GXLM in his capacity at the Sponsor and executed FY2024 Sarbanes–Oxley certifications (Sections 302 and 906) .
• Contract terms: No employment agreement, severance, non-compete, or change-of-control terms are disclosed in GXLM filings .

Say‑on‑Pay & Shareholder Feedback

• GXLM conducted a consent solicitation (not a say‑on‑pay) to amend the Trust Agreement; proposals passed with the following preliminary vote counts on Oct 15, 2025:

• Aggregate consents by outstanding shares (deemed consents included): Proposal 1: 97.74%; Proposal 2: 97.21%; Proposal 3: 97.69%; Proposal 4: 95.94% .
• Record Date and process details: Record Date Sept 25, 2025; deemed consent if no written objection within 20 days per Trust Agreement .

Risk Indicators & Red Flags

• Conflicts of interest: The Sponsor may favor its own interests and those of affiliates; it has limited fiduciary duties to GXLM shareholders under the Trust Agreement .
• Governance structure: The Audit Committee is composed of Sponsor officers (CFO and COO); Board includes senior executives, with limited disclosure of independent directors .
• Trust Agreement amendments: Proposal 4 permits the Sponsor to restate, amend, or supplement the Trust Agreement without shareholder consent, with a 20‑day notice for materially adverse amendments; certain tax-status impacting amendments are permitted with a Tax Advisor’s opinion .
• Fee mechanics: Sponsor’s Fee accrues daily at 2.5% of NAV Fee Basis Amount and is payable daily in arrears post‑amendment .
• Operational risk: Use of omnibus accounts and prime brokerage for creation/redemption introduces counterparty and insolvency risks as GXLM could be an unsecured creditor for XLM held in omnibus accounts .

Investment Implications

• Low transparency on executive compensation and incentive metrics reduces visibility into pay‑for‑performance alignment, vesting‑related selling pressure, and change‑of‑control economics; GXLM filings do not disclose Mintzberg’s compensation terms .
• Governance oversight relies on Sponsor structures: with the Audit Committee comprised of management (CFO/COO) and the Sponsor empowered to amend the Trust Agreement without prior shareholder votes (with notice), investors should monitor governance changes and fee/payment mechanics closely .
• Alignment: DCG’s 4.83% GXLM ownership and allowance for executive/director investments in Grayscale products indicate some capital-at-risk, though Mintzberg’s GXLM ownership is <1%; pledging/transfers are restricted by the Trust Agreement .
• Execution track record signals: Management/board expansion and scale disclosure (>$35B AUM as of Aug 2025) point to platform growth, but trust-level financial metrics (TSR, revenue/EBITDA) and executive performance targets are not provided, limiting direct linkage to Mintzberg’s incentives .