Governments around the world and most major banks have taken a tough stance on bitcoin and have refused to deal with the volatile cryptocurrency. Goldman Sachs has decided to buck the trend and announce the launch of a new bitcoin trading platform.
To be clear, Goldman Sachs is not getting into the business of buying and trading bitcoins – at least not for now. What the Wall Street bank intends to do is to honour and allow clients to use their money to facilitate new contracts that are linked to bitcoin.
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One of the main reasons Goldman Sachs decided to buck the trend and start being open to bitcoin is because there was a growing demand from their clients who wanted the opportunity to invest in bitcoin and hold the cryptocurrency as a valuable asset. The board discussed getting into bitcoin operations at length and finally decided that it was worth the risk to proceed with a new bitcoin trading operation.
Rana Yared was one of the top Goldman Sachs executives who was involved in setting up the bitcoin transaction program. Yared said that the bank knew that they would be taking on a number of risks by venturing into the cryptocurrency industry but those risks will be managed well.
In a statement, Yared said
I would not describe myself as a true believer who wakes up thinking Bitcoin will take over the world. Bitcoin is not a new risk that we don’t understand. It is just a heightened risk that we need to be extra aware of here.
Bitcoin Operations To Launch Shortly
Goldman Sachs is yet to confirm an official date as to when the bank will starting using its own money to trade on behalf of its clients with bitcoin futures contracts. The bank has already dealt with bitcoin by clearing traders for its clients who buy and sell bitcoin on the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Goldman Sachs is also preparing to create a different version of a futures contract. The new version will be more flexible and will be called a non-deliverable forward that will be offered to its clients. The bank will also work on developing a strategy that will allow it to store bitcoins safely for its clients. A number of bitcoin exchanges have been hacked in recent months and Goldman Sachs will want to ensure that its trading platform is not vulnerable to such attacks.
Goldman Sachs new venture will be a further boost to bitcoin and bitcoin traders in America.
