The newly appointed global head of digital assets for Goldman Sachs’ private wealth management division, Mary Catherine Rich, announced that the bank will soon offer investments in Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies to clients within its private wealth management group.
In an exclusive interview for CNBC, Mary Rich said that Goldman Sachs was working hard to offer exposure to this new type of emerging assets for the second quarter of the year.
“We are working closely with teams across the firm to explore ways to offer thoughtful and appropriate access to the ecosystem for private equity clients, and that is something we look forward to delivering in the near term.”
In addition, she added that the firm is looking into the possibility of offering a complete cryptocurrency investment toolkit through different types of investments.
Goldman Sachs wants to follow in the footsteps of Morgan Stanley.
Morgan Stanley, an American financial multinational that operates as an investment bank and broker-dealer, recently announced that its financial advisors will be able to offer bitcoin funds to their clients this moth. Goldman Sachs wants to replicate this.
Thanks to the new regulations being applied worldwide, more and more banks and investment funds want to include digital assets in their wealth management strategies and services.
In addition, the continuous demand for digital assets has been growing exponentially thanks to institutions and prominent figures such as Michael Saylor, who have found a way to accumulate cryptocurrencies by requesting loans from various banks that are friendly to cryptocurrencies.
The demand for cryptocurrencies is attracting the attention of big banks.
According to Rich, the demand for cryptocurrencies by the bank’s clients has been the main reason for them to look for ways to offer new financial products focused on the crypto market.
“There’s a contingent of clients who are looking to this asset as a hedge against inflation, and the macro backdrop over the past year has certainly played into that […] There are also a large contingent of clients who feel like we’re sitting at the dawn of a new Internet in some ways and are looking for ways to participate in this space.”
The truth is that at the moment, Goldman Sachs is working hard to obtain the approval of regulatory entities to expand its business with different crypto products. It just became the first american bank in performing an OTC crypto trade. Now, let’s suppose the SEC and the New York Department of Financial Services think the bank meets all the legal requirements to offer its crypto services. In that case, the bank would likely embark on a new crypto journey unimaginable a couple of years ago — especially considering the public anti-crypto stance of its CEO.
Goldman Sachs is one of the largest investment banking and securities groups globally, so this new feat could attract retail investors and Wall Street bigwigs who are waiting for this type of inclusions or news to make your entry into the crypto world.
It only remains to wait a while to see if they manage to comply with all the relevant regulations to allow their clients to expand their portfolios, an option that would be very attractive, especially in these times of volatility that all financial markets are experiencing.
