American multinational investment bank, Goldman Sachs Group has reopened its bitcoin trading desk and will also explore the possibility of launching an exchange-traded-fund, a Reuters source revealed today.
The banking giant had launched a bitcoin trading desk in 2018 but ultimately retired the service after the cryptocurrency industry went into a bear market. However, with prices reaching new all-time highs, and interest surging, Goldman Sachs is re-entering the game.
According to the source, Goldman Sachs will sit within the U.S Global Markets Division on Monday to begin “dealing with bitcoin futures and non-deliverable forwards.” These derivatives products offer investors the opportunity to bet on Bitcoin’s future price and have become even more attractive with the increased market volatility.
However, Goldman Sachs will likely not stop at restoring its bitcoin trading desk. The source also mentioned that the bank is “also exploring the potential for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund and has issued a request for information to explore digital asset custody.”
Goldman Sachs in 2020: “Cryptocurrencies Including [Bitcoin] Are Not an Asset Class.”
At the peak of the global pandemic last year, Goldman Sachs representatives famously told clients on a call that “cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, are not an asset class.”
At the time, Bitcoin was trading just below $10,000 with the bank remarkably saying that a “security whose appreciation is primarily dependent on whether someone else is willing to pay a higher price for it is not a suitable investment for our clients.”
Since then, Bitcoin has generated over 300% returns and recently hit a new all-time high above $58,000. The entrance of large corporations like Tesla, MicroStrategy, and Square has ultimately legitimized the asset and created more demand even Goldman Sachs cannot ignore.
Bitcoin trades at $48900 at the time of writing, with a $910 billion market cap.
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