Bulletins

Goldman has set up a crypto trading desk

Bitcoin
Many believe Coinbase's listing is the event that will bring sustained attention and capital to crypto companies.
Image: Viktor Forgacs

Goldman Sachs has created a cryptocurrency trading desk, marking a major step in digital assets investing on Wall Street.

The bank told employees in an internal memo that it had successfully traded Bitcoin-linked derivatives, according to CNBC. The crypto team is part of the global currencies and emerging markets division and reports to veteran Goldman Sachs executive Rajesh Venkataramani, who wrote the memo.

Goldman Sachs had reportedly started setting up a crypto currency trading desk in 2017. The move comes amid signs that the Biden Administration is looking more closely at regulating cryptocurrencies.

"If one trades Bitcoin in America today, there's not an investor protection regime," Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler told the House Committee on Financial Services on Thursday.

Benjamin Pimentel

Benjamin Pimentel ( @benpimentel) covers crypto and fintech from San Francisco. He has reported on many of the biggest tech stories over the past 20 years for the San Francisco Chronicle, Dow Jones MarketWatch and Business Insider, from the dot-com crash, the rise of cloud computing, social networking and AI to the impact of the Great Recession and the COVID crisis on Silicon Valley and beyond. He can be reached at bpimentel@protocol.com or via Google Voice at (925) 307-9342.

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