Bitcoin
Goldman Sachs to launch three tokenization projects by year-end, says digital assets chief: ‘A renewed push into crypto’
As peers in traditional finance delve deeper into cryptocurrencies, including BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF and Fidelity’s Trading platform—Goldman Sachs is preparing to make a move of its own. This comes as the 150-year-old banking giant is seeing a huge surge in client interest, global head of digital assets Mathew McDermott told Fortune.
McDermott says Goldman Sachs intends to expand its cryptocurrency offerings, including ambitious initiatives in the booming sector of tokenization, where so-called “real-world assets” such as money market funds and real estate holdings are issued on public or private blockchains. According to McDermott, Goldman Sachs is expected to launch three tokenization projects by the end of the year with major clients, including its first in the U.S.
While Black stone With banks like Bank of America Corp. and Franklin Templeton also testing the tokenization waters, McDermott said the key to success will be creating products that investors want, which is why the bank recently held a digital asset summit in London attended by more than 500 clients. “There’s no point in doing this just for the sake of it,” he told Fortune. “The definitive feedback is that this is something that will really change the nature of how they can invest.”
Different views
After a deep crypto winter triggered by the FTX collapse, markets roared back this year, fueled by the launch of Bitcoin ETFs in January. According to financial filings, Goldman Sachs has taken a fundamental role in ETF offerings acting as an authorized participant, which means it would help with the redemption and creation mechanism of investment vehicles (including for BlackRock’s IBIT ETF).
McDermott described the launch of the ETFs as a “renewed push into crypto,” though the view is not shared by his bank. In April, the Wall Street Journal Published an interview with Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, chief investment officer at Goldman Sachs Wealth Management, where the finance veteran said she does not view cryptocurrencies as an investable asset class and has not seen interest from clients.
“The good thing is that for an institution our size, there are different views,” McDermott told Fortune. He said Goldman Sachs is more active in crypto from an institutional perspective, including trading cash-settled crypto derivatives on behalf of clients, along with its involvement in the ETF markets. “We continue to see, certainly this year, an increase and a broadening of the suite of products that clients would like to see available,” he said.
Tokenization remains a central part of the bank’s plans. Goldman Sachs has ventured into the field, including working on a bond issuance with the European Investment Bank in 2022 and tokenizing a sovereign green bond for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in 2023, as well as launching the Goldman Sachs Digital Asset Platform in 2023 to facilitate asset tokenization.
The biggest tokenization launch this year was BlackRock’s BUIDL treasury fund, which hit $500 million on Monday and operates on Ethereum, a public blockchain. McDermott said BlackRock, along with similar funds from Franklin Templeton, is targeting a retail client base, while Goldman Sachs is more focused on institutions and would work exclusively with private blockchains due to regulatory constraints. He said the bank’s goal is to create real markets for tokenized assets, as well as deliver improvements when it comes to speed and the types of assets that can be used as collateral.
McDermott declined to provide details on the three tokenization projects set to launch this year, but said one is focused on the U.S. fund complex and another on debt issuance in Europe.
With the U.S. presidential election and a potential shift in the government’s regulatory approach toward crypto just months away, McDermott said the bank’s opportunities in the space could expand, including the ability to hold crypto assets on spot. “There may be other things that we as a firm would naturally be interested, subject to approval, in doing, such as execution and perhaps subcustody,” he told Fortune.