A high-ranked Goldman Sachs executive revealed that the bank is currently exploring a Bitcoin derivative product and said recent reports of the company putting its Bitcoin trading desk on hold is “fake news.”
It’s ‘Fake News’
Earlier this week, various media outlets reported that investment bank Goldman Sachs has put their plans to open a Bitcoin (BTC) trading desk on hold. Supposedly, the decision was made because of ongoing regulatory uncertainty.
The news appeared to send the price of the world’s largest cryptocurrencies and other digital coins into a steady decline, as the asset lost over 15 percent of its value shortly after.
However, the Chief Financial Officer of Goldman Sachs, Martin Chavez, labeled the reports as “fake news.” Speaking on stage at the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference in San Francisco, Chavez said:
I never thought I would hear myself use this term but I really have to describe that news as fake news. […] When we talked about exploring digital assets that it was going to be exploration that would be evolving over time.
Maybe someone who was thinking about our activities here got very excited that we would be making markets as principal and physical bitcoin, and as they got into it they realized part of the evolution but it’s not here yet.
‘Clients Want It’
Going further, the bank’s CFO cleared the air by saying that they are exploring over-the-counter Bitcoin derivatives dubbed as non-deliverable forwards. He said:
The next stage of the exploration is what we call non-deliverable forwards, these are over the counter derivatives, they’re settled in U.S. dollars and the reference price is the bitcoin-U.S. dollar price established by a set of exchanges.
However, Chavez also reiterated on the importance of a safe custody solution before it can consider physical Bitcoin, despite it being “something tremendously interesting.” He explained:
Physical bitcoin is something tremendously interesting, and tremendously challenging. From the perspective of custody, we don’t yet see an institutional-grade custodial solution for bitcoin, we’re interested in having that exist and it’s a long road.
It’s worth noting that Live Bitcoin News recently reported that Goldman Sachs is considering launching its own cryptocurrency custody solution for its clients.
What do you think of Goldman Sachs’ latest position on cryptocurrencies? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!
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