Svetlana Rud has been working as a freelance writer , with experience gained at several media outlets around the world.
Wall Street Investment Bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is considering new trading services for cryptocurrencies as bitcoin.
The Wall Street Journal informs that Goldman is only in the beginning of new services implementation. Goldman specialists are consulting with cryptocurrency and financial experts and there is no exact information when Goldman’s plans will be realized.
“Goldman’s effort involves both its currency-trading division and the bank’s strategic investment group, the people said. That suggests the firm believes bitcoin’s future is more as a payment method rather than a store of value, like gold,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
Evidently, such changes in Goldman cryptocurrency policy were stemmed from high interest in Bitcoin that grew up to 390% since the beginning of 2017. Goldman’s clients want to be involved in cryptocurrency markets and have right to trade.
“In response to client interest in digital currencies, we are exploring how best to serve them in the space,” a Goldman Sachs representative said in a statement.
It should be noted that Goldman is following changes in cryptocurrency market and its analysts has shared opinion about Bitcoin growth and its positive prospective. In the middle of August Goldman’s chief technician Sheba Jafari predicted that the price of bitcoin could be high than $4,800.
Implementation of cryptocurrency trading services will make Goldman the first Wall Street Bank that will deal with cryptocurrency directly. Thanks to new cryptocurrency policy, Goldman destroys current Wall Street opinion that Bitcoin is “fraud” and “a bubble”.
Recently JP Morgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon criticized bitcoin, named it a “fraud”, and threatened to fire any employee who would trade the cryptocurrency: “Bitcoin will eventually blow up. It’s a fraud. It’s worse than tulip bulbs and won’t end well.”
Then Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, commented quite negatively about bitcoin: “Bitcoin today, you can’t make much transactions of int. You can’t spend it very easily. It’s a shame. It could be a currency. It could work conceptually, but the amount of speculation that is going on and the lack of transactions.”
However, some expects as Rainer Michael Preiss shares opinion that US financial institutions are quite afraid of Bitcoin as an alternate way to store wealth: “The concerns are about the fractional reserve banking system, and the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve at $4.5 trillion, where the Fed officially refuses an audit.”