Goldman Sachs to start offering bitcoin, crypto, and other digital assets to wealthy investors

With institutional support from banks, payment companies, and investors, cryptocurrencies like bitcoins are slowly moving towards global adoption. Yesterday, PayPal announced the launch of “Checkout with Crypto” to enable PayPal customers in the U.S. to checkout with cryptocurrency alongside other payment methods in the PayPal wallet.

Now, Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs is about to start offering bitcoin and other digital assets to its wealth management clients. Goldman Sachs aims to begin offering investments in the emerging asset class in the second quarter of 2020, according to a report from CNBC, citing an exclusive interview with Mary Rich, who was recently named global head of digital assets for Goldman’s private wealth management division.

″We are working closely with teams across the firm to explore ways to offer thoughtful and appropriate access to the ecosystem for private wealth clients, and that is something we expect to offer in the near term,” Rich said in an interview this week.

The launch is part of Goldman’s response to its customers’ growing demand for bitcoin. As we reported early this month, Goldman Sachs President and Chief Operating Officer John Waldron. said the firm has been seeing more demand for bitcoin among its clients. Waldron said that, while Goldman was “regulated” on what it could do, the bank continues to “evaluate” bitcoin and “engage” with clients. “Demand is rising,” said Waldron, who is also Goldman’s bank president.

Per CNBC, Goldman is looking at ultimately offering a “full-spectrum” of investments in bitcoin and digital assets, “whether that’s through the physical bitcoin, derivatives or traditional investment vehicles,” she said.

The move means that soon, clients of two of the world’s preeminent investment banks – Goldman and Morgan Stanley – will have access to a nascent asset class that has intrigued billionaires and digital currency believers alike.