Will Rhind founded GraniteShares in 2016 and runs it as chief executive. The firm managed $14.5 billion on 30 June 2026. Before that he spent 17 months as CEO of the company that sponsors SPDR Gold Shares, the gold trust that trades as GLD.
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Item
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Value
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Current role
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Founder and CEO, GraniteShares
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Company
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New York ETF issuer, $14.5 billion under management on 30 June 2026
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In the role since
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2016, the year he founded the firm
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Previous role
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CEO of World Gold Trust Services, LLC, the sponsor of the SPDR Gold Trust
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Dates in that role
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8 September 2014 to 12 February 2016, seventeen months
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Dated primary source
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SPDR Gold Trust Form 8-K, event 8 September 2014
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Best known for
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GraniteShares Gold Trust (BAR), formed 24 August 2017 at a 0.20% sponsor's fee
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What he is not
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Not the CEO of GLD, a New York trust that has no officers, and not the Scottish sculptor William Birnie Rhind, 1853 to 1933
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Every profile of him repeats two lines. CEO of the $30 billion SPDR Gold Trust, 2013 to 2016. Both are wrong, and the way they are wrong tells you more about the man than the corrected version does.
Who Is Will Rhind?
He opened his career as an investment banking analyst at Nomura International in London, holding a BA with honours in French, Russian, Politics and Economics from the University of Bath. Languages first, metals second.
From 2007 to 2013 he held leadership roles at ETF Securities. In September 2013 he joined the World Gold Council as Managing Director, Institutional Investment. An earlier post as a principal on the iShares UK sales team appears in the same SEC Form 8-K, undated.
That September 2013 date is where the bios go wrong. The World Gold Council is the parent body. The chief executive job at its ETF sponsor arm did not arrive until a year later, and the board minute that created it is a filed document.
How Long Was He Actually at the Gold Trust?
The board of World Gold Trust Services appointed him CEO on 8 September 2014, effective that day, and the filing gives his age as 35. He resigned effective 12 February 2016, which makes the tenure seventeen months rather than the three years his bios claim.
One more correction travels with it, and it is a category error rather than a date. GLD has no chief executive, because it isn't a company. It's a New York trust run by a trustee, and the sponsor's officers sign its certifications.
Calling him CEO of GLD reads like calling a landlord the CEO of a building. Each bio inherits the mistake from the one written before it, and none of them checked the filing.
How Did Will Rhind Build GraniteShares?
Step 1. Undercut the incumbent. GraniteShares Gold Trust was formed on 24 August 2017, eighteen months after he left. Its first quarterly report puts the only ordinary recurring fee at 0.20% of adjusted daily net asset value.
Step 2. Repeat the shape across metals. A platinum trust followed, then broad commodity funds, all on the same cheap template. If you have ever picked a fund on expense ratio alone, that pitch was aimed at you.
Step 3. Add leverage, in Europe first. The UK range carries 3x long and 3x short single-stock ETPs, with Tesla and Rolls-Royce among the underlyings. The American launches came in at lower factors.
Step 4. Bring leverage to the US. On 13 December 2022 the firm listed FBL, NVDL and BABX on Nasdaq at 1.5x, 1.5x and 1.75x. The 2026 line-up leads with leveraged single-stock funds, the YieldBOOST income platform and autocallable ETFs.
The Numbers Behind the Fee Reversal
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Metric
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Figure
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GLD sponsor's fee, fiscal 2015
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0.40% of daily net asset value
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GraniteShares Gold Trust (BAR) recurring fee
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0.20% of adjusted daily net asset value
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SKUU total annual fund operating expenses
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1.50%
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GLD net assets, 30 September 2014
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$30.10 billion
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GLD net assets, 30 September 2015
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$24.61 billion
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GraniteShares assets under management, 30 June 2026
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$14.5 billion
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Read the first three rows in order and you have the arc of a career. He charged 0.40% at the SPDR Gold Trust, built a rival at 0.20%, then moved the business into funds like SKUU at 1.50%.
Gold was the cheap product and leverage is where the fee lives.
The last two rows kill the other half of the myth. That $30 billion in every bio is a snapshot from the first month of his tenure. Twelve months later the trust held $24.61 billion, 18.2% less.
Gold fell on his watch, and the number the internet quotes is the high-water mark.
Why Will Rhind's Story Matters Beyond Gold
For founders. The play was price, not product. He took something he knew from the inside and shipped it at half the cost, then used that credibility to sell an expensive second act.
For investors. A cheap-beta brand does not stay cheap-beta. Check the fee on the specific fund you are buying, because the issuer's reputation was earned by a completely different product.
For traders. Leveraged single-stock funds reset daily. Hold one for a month and your return is a path-dependent number, not the underlying's move doubled. Think of it as compounding quietly working against you in a chop.
What Should Traders Watch From Here?
Fee migration. The cheapest wrappers keep getting cheaper while the fee-earning products get more leveraged, and both trends run out of the same firms. GraniteShares shipped a box spread ETF it calls the lowest-cost and an autocallable income ETF in August 2026.
The SK Hynix pair. SKUU and SKDD, the 2x long and 2x short GraniteShares funds, both listed as Phemex perpetual futures on 27 August 2026 at up to 20x. Their fund inception dates are separate and earlier.
Private-name demand. Leverage chases whatever retail cannot reach directly, and pre-IPO names like OpenAI and SpaceX are where that demand already points. The wrapper tends to follow the demand rather than lead it.
Gold itself. The metal is the reason anyone has heard of him, and it is the cleanest expression of the trade he spent a decade packaging. On Phemex that exposure trades as XAU-USDT, with no fund and no issuer between you and the price.
How to Trade the Trends Will Rhind Represents
Via TradFi futures. Phemex lists gold as XAU-USDT with leverage up to 100x, so you can take the metal directly without a fund wrapper or a sponsor's fee attached to it. Our guide to trading gold with USDT walks through the contract.
Via the funds. SKUU and SKDD are tradable as perpetual futures, and MVLL, a GraniteShares 2x long fund, listed as a Phemex perpetual on 30 June 2026 at up to 10x. If wrapped leverage is new to you, start with what a tokenized ETF is.
Via the maths. Daily-reset leverage bleeds in a choppy tape the same way an unhedged perpetual position bleeds. The 3x leveraged ETF futures guide carries the compounding example, and what TradFi futures are covers the wrapper itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Will Rhind?
The founder and CEO of GraniteShares, a New York ETF issuer. He previously ran World Gold Trust Services, the sponsor of the SPDR Gold Trust.
Was Will Rhind the CEO of GLD?
No. GLD is a New York trust with no officers of its own. He was CEO of its sponsor, World Gold Trust Services, and signed the trust's certifications in that capacity.
How long did Will Rhind run the SPDR Gold Trust sponsor?
Seventeen months. SEC filings date his appointment to 8 September 2014 and his resignation to 12 February 2016, not the 2013 start that most profiles print.
What company did Will Rhind found?
GraniteShares, in 2016. The firm managed $14.5 billion on 30 June 2026 across gold, commodities, income products and leveraged single-stock funds.
What can traders learn from Will Rhind's story?
Fees follow demand rather than principle. A 0.20% gold trust and a 1.50% leveraged fund can come from the same founder inside a decade.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency trading involves substantial risk. Always conduct your own research before making trading decisions.
