Goldman Sachs Bitcoin Trading Desk Plans Fade Away For Now [Who Cares]

Goldman Sachs Abandons Bitcoin Trading Desk Plans For Now

One of the largest Wall Street investment banks, Goldman Sachs, has opened up on its stance about starting a crypto trading desk. According to the bank, there are no plans to do it for the foreseeable future. The bank will rather focus its energy on custody products for cryptocurrencies that could service institutional clients instead.

Rumors And Development of the Crypto Trading Desk

This development goes against the popular expectations since there are rumors that the company has achieved a significant progress towards making a direct crypto trading desk over the past few months.

During 2017, it was believed that the company would go for it and even seasoned crypto traders like Justin Schmidt were contacted to be a part of the new initiative. However, it looks like this idea did not bear fruit. There was a relevant interest in cryptos in the past, but it looks like the crypto bear market might have made the people at the company decide for another path.

Some comments from January 2018 include quotes by Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of the bank, which introduced some level of clarity about the ways that the bank could be involved with cryptos. During an interview at the time, Blankfein explained that the bank intended to offer futures in Bitcoin for some clients in the future. He also distanced the institution from selling Bitcoin directly at the time.

A recent report indicates that the unclear nature of the regulatory framework for cryptos is one of the key reasons why the bank decided not to get involved with them.

The ETF

At the moment, the priorities of the bank are custodian services and products for crypto because they are targeting the banks. Because of this, they want to provide a good and secure platform for these huge institutions interested in the safety of their investment and on being protected from the volatility of the market.

If the U. S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) decides that the ETF should be approved or not will impact a lot the business of the company because the ETF is probably one of the services that would be offered by the company. We have to wait to know the next steps of this story, so follow our blog for the developments.