Goldman Sachs was never in the running to set up a cryptocurrency trading desk. Over the past few months, reports have made headlines indicating that the investment company was considering opening a cryptocurrency trading desk that would allow people to buy and sell various virtual currencies. However, as it stands, that won’t be the case.
The bank reportedly downgraded plans to set up a crypto trading desk on concerns over the uncertain crypto regulatory landscape. After months of study, Goldman Scans concluded that a number of steps still need to be taken’ before a regulated bank delved deeper into the cryptocurrency business.
“In response to client interest in various digital products, we are exploring how best to serve them in the space. At this point, we have not reached a conclusion on the scope of our digital asset offering,” a company spokesman in a statement.
Goldman Crypto Custody Program
Instead, the investment bank is to focus its attention on a custody program with a view of providing crypto storage services for large institutional investors. The bank is to hold cryptocurrencies on behalf of its clients and track price changes as well.
Such a service seeks to address an emerging market need that has come into being as institutional investors eye opportunities in the burgeoning sector. A lack of reliable cryptocurrency custody services has forced a good number of investors to go slow on cryptocurrency investments something that Goldman Scans seeks to address with the custody service.
Goldman Sachs is set to compete for market share with other companies also looking to provide cryptocurrency custody services to institutional investors. Coinbase and BitGo are some of the cryptocurrency exchange in the running to offer custody services. Mainstream companies Fidelity, Normura, and JPMorgan, are also considering similar offerings.
Even though Goldman Sachs won’t be operating a crypto trading desk soon, it still makes markets in Bitcoin (BTC) that allow investors to buy and sell the cryptocurrency without owning the underlying asset.