Bitcoin’s Wall Street Seal of Approval
For those of you that missed it, venerable Wall Street bellwether, Goldman Sachs (GS), quietly took a step that further solidifies Bitcoin as an institutionally acceptable investment.
As per this Bloomberg article, GS recently began offering its clients a way to gain exposure to Bitcoin without buying the underlying asset. As near as I can tell, GS is among the first, if not THE first, to offer its clients access to non-deliverable forwards, derivative instruments whose performance is based on the price of Bitcoin, but pay out and settle in cash. This structure allows GS to sidestep the complications associated with building out the infrastructure necessary to directly purchase and custody Bitcoin.
As anyone that has worked in Finance knows, GS has a reputation for being a first-mover in financial innovation and does not offer products that are not demanded by their clients. As such, we can infer at least two things: 1) there is appetite from GS’s clients for Bitcoin exposure; 2) GS’ analysis led them to the realization that there is a means for profit from crypto.
Whatever their reason for offering this new product to their clients, GS’ offering is supportive of Bitcoin and lends additional heft to the claim that Bitcoin is an institutional level investable asset.
