Goldman Sachs To Consider Offering Custody Services To Crypto Funds

According to the latest report from Bloomberg, financial banking giant Goldman Sachs is now considering offering custody of cryptocurrency funds, told people familiar with the matter. As a part of its new custody service, Goldman Sachs will be holding securities on behalf of the cryptocurrency funds ultimately reducing the risk for clients while safeguarding their investments against external threats and attacks.

The sources said that the banking giant is currently exploring several available options and no pre-defined timeline has been set for the launch. Custody service from Goldman Sachs would certainly improve the credibility of cryptocurrency funds while attracting a large pool of investors to put their bet on the asset class. The sources also said that once the custody operations are in place, this could possibly give rise to prime brokerage services.

A Goldman Sachs spokesperson who refused to get identified said: “In response to client interest in various digital products we are exploring how best to serve them in this space. At this point we have not reached a conclusion on the scope of our digital asset offering.”

However, Goldman Sachs is also not the first financial giant to show such interest in crypto-custody services. Previously, giants like JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Japan’s Nomura Holdings Inc., and Northern Trust Corp. have shown interest in these services.

However, Goldman Sachs has been involved with the crypto markets since long back. this banking giant was the first Wall-Street firm to clear Bitcoin Futures Contract offered by CME and CBOE Groups.

Moreover, the company has since long talked about having a crypto-trading desk, the plans of which are yet to materialize.

In the recently released mid-year economic report last week, the company said that it expects the crypto markets to fall further from these levels. Goldman Sachs chief-investment officer Sharmin Mossavar-Rahamani said: “Our view that cryptocurrencies would not retain value in their current incarnation remains intact and, in fact, has been borne out much sooner than we expected. We expect further declines in the future given our view that these cryptocurrencies do not fulfill any of the three traditional roles of a currency: they are neither a medium of exchange, nor a unit of measurement, nor a store of value.”