Goldman Sachs, a major banking company plans to begin offering Bitcoin exposure to its customers, according to the new head of digital assets
In the second quarter of 2021, the banking giant intends to allow only its high-net-worth clients to invest in Bitcoin and other digital assets. The information came to CNBC exclusively via Mary Rich, who was recently appointed as the head of digital assets in Goldman Sachs’ private wealth management department.
“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.”
Goldman intends to offer a much larger or broader, full-scale investment in other digital assets as well, according to Rich.
Rich notes that the banking giant will be offering Bitcoin investment via “physical bitcoin, derivatives or traditional vehicles” to the private wealth clients in the near-term. The private wealth management service of Goldman Sachs works with families or individual investors who have a minimum of $25 million to invest in the bank.
NEW: @GoldmanSachs is planning on offering #Bitcoin and related digital investments to its rich PWM clients in the second quarter, CNBC has learned exclusively. Will discuss on air soon with the @SquawkCNBC crew.👇https://t.co/yW07vgwSfZ
— Hugh Son (@Hugh_Son) March 31, 2021
In times past, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and other banking giants used to be rigorously hostile towards Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. CEO of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon has called Bitcoin a bubble several times in the past, adding that cryptocurrency is highly speculative and may crash at any moment.
However, these banking giants are not the only major U.S. financial institution moving into the digital assets eco-space.
Recently , Tesla invested 1.5 Billion in Bitcoin and MicroStrategy continues to invest in Bitcoin.