According to a report published by Reuters on Monday (March 1), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has “restarted its cryptocurrency trading desk and will begin dealing bitcoin futures and non-deliverable forwards for clients from next week.”
The report by Reuters Chief Correspondent Anna Irrera says that, according to “a person familiar with the matter”, this team “will sit within the U.S. bank’s Global Markets division.”
Furthermore, Reuters was told that Goldman is “also exploring the potential for a bitcoin exchange traded fund and has issued a request for information to explore digital asset custody.”
At this time, we can’t verify the veracity of this story, but it is interesting that it comes at a time that major Wall Street firms seem to be falling over themselves to acknowledge the legitimacy of Bitcoin as an alternative to gold with an asymmetric return.
Earlier today, gold bug Peter Schiff, who is one of Bitcoin’s harshest critics, had to admit that Wall Street seems to have changed its stance on Bitcoin:
Jurrien Timmer, Director of Global Macro at Fidelity Investments, today published a 12-page research paper on Bitcoin (title: “Understanding Bitcoin: Does bitcoin belong in asset allocation considerations?”).
Timmer concluded his report as follows:
He finished by saying:
“If bitcoin is a legitimate store of value, is scarcer than gold, and comes complete with a potentially exponential demand dynamic, then is it now worth considering for inclusion in a portfolio (at some prudent level and at least alongside other alternatives, such as real estate, commodities, and certain index-linked securities)?
“Despite the many risks discussed—including such factors as volatility, competitors, and policy intervention for some the answer may well be ‘yes,’ at least insofar as that ‘yes’ applies only to components on the 40 side of 60/40. For those investors, the question of bitcoin may no longer be ‘whether’ but ‘how much?’.“
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The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.
