Goldman Sachs is getting ready to expand its crypto offerings as client demand picks up and the broader financial industry moves toward crypto. The Goldman Sachs executive leading the bank’s digital asset business told Bloomberg he wanted to increase the bank’s digital assets proposition and tokenise more real-world assets, including money market funds and real estate. He said three major tokenisation projects aim to launch by the end of the year, improving how clients can invest and manage some assets on a blockchain.
Despite ongoing controversy among its senior leadership about the feasibility of cryptocurrencies as a new investment class, Goldman Sachs has been instrumental in creating, and redeeming, vehicles for Bitcoin ETFs, too, like the one from BlackRock, called the IBIT ETF (iShares Global Digital Asset). McDermott underscored the approach of catering to institutional users and clients rather than retail: ‘Because of the regulatory concerns [considering digital assets as securities], we will continue to look at private blockchains.’ That is to say: Goldman Sachs wants to build efficient marketplaces for tokenised assets, the possibility of a new paradigm in which collateralisation and trading speeds are fundamentally reshaped.
Looking ahead, it is possible that the firm’s crypto strategies in general, and any services they offer regarding digital assets, will be dependent on the outcome of the upcoming US presidential election. A key factor will be whether new regulations are introduced to help banks such as Goldman Sachs hold spot crypto assets and expand to provide execution and sub-custody services. This proactive posturing might indicate that Goldman Sachs ultimately wants to grow and diversify its digital asset initiatives, and inch its way into a market that seems to be moving immensely forward. There is growing demand for new and transformative investment products that are also regulatory-sound.
Source: Yahoo! Finance
