Goldman Sachs officially committed to Bitcoin earlier this year. The investment bank is now expanding its offering to include options and futures for Ether. However, there are also crypto-skeptics within the bank.
The change of course of the US investment bank Goldman Sachs with regard to the once disdained cryptocurrencies is drawing ever wider circles. It has now been announced that derivative products for ether (ETH) will be added to the portfolio in the coming months. There is already such an investment option for Bitcoin at Goldman Sachs. In this way, the bank creates broader acceptance of the second largest cryptocurrency, ether. Somewhat strange in this context, however, is that only recently the consumer and asset management department of Goldman Sachs described cryptocurrencies as “not a viable investment” for diversified portfolios. So it says in a report, the results of which portal Coindesk published.
Notwithstanding, Mathew McDermott, Goldman chief executive of digital assets, confirmed according to Bloomberg on Monday that the investment bank will offer options and futures for Ether.
Institutional acceptance will continue. […] Despite the significant price correction, we continue to see great interest in this area
, according to McDermott’s statement. However, McDermott did not name an exact point in time when Goldman Sachs could offer the new ether-based financial products.
Goldman Sachs also involved in crypto investment rounds
Goldman Sachs’ crypto support goes beyond the mere offering of corresponding financial products. Most recently, the bank also embarked on a $ 15 million investment round for Coin Metrics, a leading crypto data service. McDermott said Goldman is not satisfied with that and is looking at “a number of different companies that fit our strategic direction.” Goldman was one of the investors in Blockdaemon’s Series A round, whose financiers were announced last week. The bank contributed $ 5 million of the total of $ 28 million.
Given this commitment, how can the report by the consumer and asset management department come to such a negative conclusion? One of the reasons given for the pessimism is the high energy consumption in mining. There is also the risk that technological advances such as quantum computing will make current blockchain technology obsolete. The report also mentions the risk of more stringent regulatory oversight as a hindrance. The lack of regulated exchanges also means that there is little reliable data on crypto assets. The data situation is improving, but it is still not reliable, according to the report. However, positive aspects are also mentioned there. Like that according to which some components of the crypto ecosystem, including blockchain technology, have the potential to contribute to long-term economic growth.