GoldMan Sachs watching Bitcoin’s every move

GoldMan Sachs watching Bitcoin’s every move

Goldman Sachs is keeping a close eye on Bitcoin. In an earnings call on Tuesday, the bank’s Chief Executive Officer, David Solomon, commented on the cryptocurrency, while also touching on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

“As activities in these areas [cryptocurrency, blockchain and the digitization of money] progress, there will be significant disruption and change in the way money moves around the world,” Salomon said.

“There is also significant focus on cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, where the trajectory is less clear as market participants evaluate their possibility as a store of value,” he added.

Goldman Sachs is planning to offer Bitcoin investment products to its wealth management clients, and it also recently reopened its cryptocurrency trading desk.

The CEO said that the bank is eager to “play a role in these innovations as they are important to our clients and important to the future of global financial systems.”

Goldman Sachs’ clients are demanding cryptocurrency in their portfolios. A breakthrough on regulation of cryptocurrencies in the United Stated is needed though. “Of course we need to operate within the current regulatory guidelines,” Solomon added. “For example, we cannot own Bitcoin or trade it as a principal.”

Central Bank Digital Currencies

Solomon shortly touched on CBDC’s too. He acknowledged the importance of this technology, saying that central banks around the world were examining the CBDCs to work out the “longer term impact on global payment systems.”

A CBDC is a centralized digital asset, controlled by a government or its central bank. It should not be confused with a cryptocurrency therefore. Especially not with Bitcoin, which is the decentralized alternative to fiat and digital currency.

CBDC is a hot topic around the world these days. Countries are currently in different stages of producing a CBDC. China is in an advanced stage of their trial of a digital version of the yuan. Japan recently announced phase 1 of their test to have started. The U.S. seems a bit behind though. The Federal Reserve had said it is still not close to making a decision on releasing a CBDC. The European Central Bank still considers a EURO CBDC to be roughly four years away.

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Source: igaming