Goldman Sachs to Reopen its Cryptocurrency Trading Desk
Reports from Reuters revealed that Goldman Sachs plans to offer bitcoin futures and non-deliverable forwards on behalf of its clients from the next week. As per the sources who are aware of the matter, this move is part of the bank’s efforts to get benefitted from the fast-growing crypto-space that will be an investment choice for institutional players.
The ban also plans to develop a Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) very soon as it is a part of their plan to fully venture into the industry. Based on this regard, the anonymous source noted that Goldman Sachs had already “issued a request for information to explore digital asset custody.”
Goldman’s first shot at Crypto
Goldman Sachs became the first Wall Street biggest firm to offer crypto-related products in 2017, as the bank planned to open a cryptocurrency desk. At the same time, the Wall Street financial institution was working on how to address security challenges that the businesses will face and how it would custody the assets.
The plans were about to be launched in 2018 and the same year in September, reports emerged that the bank chose to not offer crypto-related investments. As per the sources, the bank dropped its crypto plans due to the regulatory concerns associated with the industry and the regulators breathing down the neck of most of the projects.
Regulatory uncertainty was the major block that hindered several institutional players from involving in cryptocurrencies. In recent times, there have clearer regulations luring institutional investors like Microstrategy and Tesla. The involvement of these large corporations has created a positive mindset in institutional investors that crypto is safe when compared to the situation in 2018. Hence, this may be the reason why Goldman Sachs plans to restart its crypto trading desk in earnest.
A change of Decision?
Goldman Sachs’ second shot to launch a cryptocurrency trading desk comes less than a year after the bank said its clients that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are not an asset class. Reports at the time depicted that the reason for the call was to discourage its customers from involving themselves in cryptocurrencies and bitcoins.
