Goldman Sachs Applies for DeFi ETF

Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs has filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would offer exposure to public companies in decentralized finance and blockchain around the globe.

Sparse on details, the filing noted that the fund would invest at least 80% of its assets into companies that advance blockchain technology and the digitization of finance.

"The Goldman Sachs Innovate DeFi and Blockchain Equity ETF (the 'Fund') seeks to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Solactive Decentralized Finance and Blockchain Index (the 'Index')," the filing said.

The markets that Goldman would be picking from would include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The SEC is reviewing more than a dozen bitcoin ETF applications and has delayed decisions on several of them. Both VanEck and WisdomTree have filed for Ethereum ETFs, but Goldman's filing seems to be the first DeFi-related ETF application.

CoinDesk revealed last week that Goldman is reportedly clearing and settling cryptocurrency exchange-traded products for some hedge fund clients in Europe.