Goldman Sachs bullish on crypto

The investment banking and financial service provider giant Goldman Sachs is bullish on crypto and NFTs.

Recently the bank offered its first Bitcoin backed loan. As per the information provided by the financial service provider, the company provided a borrower with a cash loan from its secure lending facility, with Bitcoin serving as the collateral in the agreement.

The bank started warming up to the idea of Bitcoin-backed loans for the first time in December of 2021. Goldman Sachs also plans on lending to its institutional clients against Bitcoin.

Goldman Sachs will work with third-party agents to enable borrowers to sell securities in the anticipation of eventual repurchase. The bank believes these three-party repo arrangements would enable clients to borrow money more efficiently.

This move towards warming up to cryptocurrencies has not been an isolated incident. According to a press release issued by the investment bank, Goldman Sachs started to offer Bitcoin-based financial solutions to its high-net-worth clientele, on April 1.

Moreover, in March 2022, Goldman Sachs began trading over the counter Bitcoin options. Additionally, they have also created a specialised digital assets team dedicated at giving them an edge in the Web3 sector.

Goldman Sachs also sees the potential in non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Recently they announced that they have plans of researching and expanding into NFTs because the bank sees great potential in the digital asset as financial products.

Other Wall Street financial giants are also expanding into the Web3 world. Recently, Morgan Stanley became the first bank to open a branch in the metaverse. The bank opened the Onyx Lounge in the Decentraland metaverse.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. also offers banking services to cryptocurrency users. BlackRock Inc. made a $400 million investment in the stablecoin startup Circle last in March. Cowen Inc., another investment bank also announced the establishment of a digital assets division in the month of March.

The trust of institutional banks in cryptocurrencies, NFTs and other digital assets would provide a push to widespread adoption and use of this asset class.