Traditional Institutions Showing Increasing Interest! Wall Street Investment Banks Goldman Sachs and Goldman Sachs Reportedly Set to Relaunch Bitcoin Futures

Despite briefly launching Bitcoin futures in 2018, Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street investment bank, seems to be planning to relaunch its cryptocurrency trading business amid the bullish market conditions.

Goldman Sachs, the Financial Giant

According to Reuters, anonymous sources revealed that Goldman Sachs is set to restart and actively explore digital assets, including the following services:

• Stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar or other fiat currencies
• Bitcoin ETFs
• Bitcoin futures
• Digital asset custody
• Bitcoin non-deliverable forwards (NDFs)

The news indicates that Goldman Sachs will offer Bitcoin futures and forwards to clients starting next Monday.

Misjudgment in 2018

In May 2018, Goldman Sachs launched Bitcoin futures and related services. However, Bitcoin was entering a bear market at the time, leading to a significant drop in trading volume and disappearing demand. Shortly after, Goldman Sachs closed its operations.

Despite the increased interest in Bitcoin from many banks and institutions, at that time, Bitcoin was considered an asset class that many compliant banks avoided, making Goldman Sachs' bold move subject to speculation.

Bitcoin Not Considered an Asset in 2020

In a strange turn of events, despite leading major investment banks in launching Bitcoin trading services in 2018, reports indicated that during an investor call in May of last year, Goldman Sachs criticized Bitcoin, claiming it was not even an asset class.

Goldman Sachs' stance drew criticism from the crypto industry, and even Ark Investment, known for its innovative approaches, believed Goldman Sachs misunderstood Bitcoin. Ark Investment released a special report titled "Debunking Common Bitcoin Misconceptions" to address the most common misunderstandings traditional investors have about Bitcoin.

Now, with the maturation of cryptocurrency infrastructure and the surge in coin prices, traditional institutions have reignited their interest in Bitcoin. This includes major players like JPMorgan Chase, Bridgewater Associates, BlackRock, Guggenheim Partners, and BNY Mellon, all showing a high level of interest.