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Goldman Sachs Relaunching Crypto Trading Desk After 3-Year Pause
Goldman Sachs may pursue a bitcoin ETF as it deepens its push into digital assets.
By Danny Nelson
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 12:19 p.m. Published Mar 1, 2021, 5:50 p.m.
Make us preferred on GoogleInvestment bank Goldman Sachs has relaunched its cryptocurrency trading desk after a three-year hiatus and plans to once again support bitcoin futures trading, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CoinDesk. Contrary to an earlier report by Reuters, the source said the service would resume in mid-March, not next week.
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The desk is part of a broader push into digital assets that may see Goldman attempt to stage a bitcoin exchange-traded fund, Reuters said. It will be a part of Goldman's U.S. Global Markets division.
The bank had originally planned to launch a crypto desk in 2017 but shelved those plans in 2018 due to regulatory concerns.
Read more: Goldman Sachs to Enter Crypto Market ‘Soon’ With Custody Play: Source
CoinDesk reported in January that Goldman was looking to re-enter the cryptocurrency industry, including with a custody offering, within the coming months.
The move follows fellow megabank BNY Mellon announcing last month a crypto custody service, reportedly in partnership with Fireblocks. Once BNY Mellon is holding bitcoin on clients' behalf, it may roll out additional services, the bank suggested in an interview with CoinDesk.
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BlackRock exec says 1% crypto allocation in Asia could unlock $2 trillion in new flows
During a panel discussion at Consensus in Hong Kong, Peach pointed to massive capital pools in traditional finance as ETF adoption spreads across Asia.
What to know:
- Even a 1% crypto allocation in standard portfolios across Asia could translate into nearly $2 trillion of inflows, highlighting how modest shifts in asset allocation could transform the digital asset market, according to the head of APAC iShares at BlackRock, Nicholas Peach.
- BlackRock's iShares unit, whose U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETF IBIT has rapidly grown to about $53 billion in assets, is seeing strong demand from Asian investors as ETF adoption accelerates across the region.
- Regulators in markets such as Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea are moving toward broader crypto ETF offerings, but industry leaders say investor education and portfolio strategy will be critical to channeling traditional finance capital into digital assets.
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