Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is exploring how it could help clients trade bitcoin and other digital currencies, according to a person briefed on the plan.
The New York-based bank is in talks with cryptocurrency experts but hasn’t yet formulated a business plan, a timetable for implementation or made any bitcoin-related investments, according to the person who asked not to be identified talking about internal deliberations. Among the questions the bank is seeking to answer: how to address know-your-customer requirements and how to understand the risks of the volatile currency, the person said.
“In response to client interest in digital currencies, we are exploring how best to serve them in the space,” Tiffany Galvin, a spokeswoman for the New York-based bank, said in a statement without elaborating.
Goldman Sachs’s approach differs from that of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, who said last month that bitcoin is a fraud and that he would fire any employee trading it for being “stupid.” The bank does facilitate trades of an exchange-traded note tied to the price of bitcoin.
Others have been more open to the cryptocurrency. Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer James Gorman said bitcoin is more than just a fad. Former Goldman Sachs and Fortress Investment Group LLC trader Mike Novogratz is starting a $500 million hedge fund to invest in cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings and related companies, a person familiar with his plans saidlast month.
Goldman Sachs is further along with the blockchain technology that underlies bitcoin, and has invested in a startup, Axoni, that is working to bring distributed-ledger technology to financial firms.
The Wall Street Journal reported Goldman Sachs’s efforts earlier Monday.
- Bloomberg
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