Goldman Sachs Group Inc is seeing substantial demand for digital assets from institutions as it works to restart its cryptocurrency trading desk.
In a survey of nearly 300 clients by the firm, 40 percent have exposure to crypto, said Matt McDermott, global head of digital assets for Goldman Sachs Global Markets Division, speaking on a podcast.
The situation is different now compared with the 2017 bitcoin bubble, due to “huge” institutional demand across different industry types and from private banking clients, he said.
Photo: Michael Nagle, Bloomberg
McDermott confirmed plans reported last week for Goldman to restart its crypto trading desk, which he said would be “quite narrow initially,” with a focus on areas such as CME Group Inc futures.
He said that US banks need to cope with regulations that bar them from trading physical cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts argue that digital tokens and the underlying blockchain technology are gaining acceptance among more mainstream institutions.
The derivatives market and new investment products have made digital assets more easily accessible. Some strategists posit that the asset class is a potential diversifier for portfolios, while others are more skeptical and blame speculators for inflating a possible bubble in bitcoin and other cryptos.
Bitcoin yesterday rose as much as 3.4 percent in Asia, while ether gained as much as 5.3 percent to the highest since Feb. 23.
Blockchain technology offers “a real diverse set of opportunities for the financial industry,” McDermott said.
As for prices, 76 percent of those surveyed see bitcoin ending this year between US$40,000 and US$100,000, McDermott said.
However, 22 percent expect it to end the year above US$100,000.
Semiconductor business between Taiwan and the US is a “win-win” model for both sides given the high level of complementarity, the government said yesterday responding to tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Taiwan is a key link in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp. Trump said on Monday he plans to impose tariffs on imported chips, pharmaceuticals and steel in an effort to get the producers to make them in the US. “Taiwan and the US semiconductor and other technology industries
SMALL AND EFFICIENT: The Chinese AI app’s initial success has spurred worries in the US that its tech giants’ massive AI spending needs re-evaluation, a market strategist said Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek’s (深度求索) eponymous AI assistant rocketed to the top of Apple Inc’s iPhone download charts, stirring doubts in Silicon Valley about the strength of the US’ technological dominance. The app’s underlying AI model is widely seen as competitive with OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc’s latest. Its claim that it cost much less to train and develop triggered share moves across Asia’s supply chain. Chinese tech firms linked to DeepSeek, such as Iflytek Co (科大訊飛), surged yesterday, while chipmaking tool makers like Advantest Corp slumped on the potential threat to demand for Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators. US stock
The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce a pause in rate cuts on Wednesday, as policymakers look to continue tackling inflation under close and vocal scrutiny from US President Donald Trump. The Fed cut its key lending rate by a full percentage point in the final four months of last year and indicated it would move more cautiously going forward amid an uptick in inflation away from its long-term target of 2 percent. “I think they will do nothing, and I think they should do nothing,” Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis former president Jim Bullard said. “I think the
Cryptocurrencies gave a lukewarm reception to US President Donald Trump’s first policy moves on digital assets, notching small gains after he commissioned a report on regulation and a crypto reserve. Bitcoin has been broadly steady since Trump took office on Monday and was trading at about US$105,000 yesterday as some of the euphoria around a hoped-for revolution in cryptocurrency regulation ebbed. Smaller cryptocurrency ether has likewise had a fairly steady week, although was up 5 percent in the Asia day to US$3,420. Bitcoin had been one of the most spectacular “Trump trades” in financial markets, gaining 50 percent to break above US$100,000 and
RSS