Goldman Sachs Confirms Launch of Bitcoin Futures Trading Desk

Multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs has recently confirmed that it will be launching a Bitcoin trading desk in response to client demand for cryptocurrency services.

In a major step forward that represents the first official Bitcoin trading operation at a Wall Street bank, Goldman Sachs confirmed on Wednesday that it will begin to leverage its own capital to trade in a variety of investment contracts linked to Bitcoin, and potentially trade Bitcoin directly in the near future.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein confirmed that the investment bank would begin clearing futures in Bitcoin for "Some futures clients" earlier this year, leading to rampant speculation amongst the cryptocurrency community that the launch of a dedicated Bitcoin desk was on the horizon.

The launch of the Bitcoin trading desk is a significant change in position from the Goldman Sachs CEO, who stated in an interview with Bloomberg last year that the digital currency was a "Vehicle to perpetrate fraud."

Wall Street investment firms have been offering clients Bitcoin futures form Cboe Global Markets and CME Group since December, but Goldman Sachs plans on starting small.

"It resonates with us when a client says, 'I want to hold Bitcoin or Bitcoin futures because I think it is an alternate store of value.'".

Goldman Sachs has already begun clearing trades for clients that buy and sell futures via the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange, but the launch of the new trading desk will see the bank use its own capital to pursue futures contracts on behalf of its clients.

The desk will be managed by Justin Schmidt, who joined Goldman Sachs recently in the newly-created "Digital asset" trader position.

Schmidt joined Goldman Sachs as VP and head of digital asset markets, and will initially be placed on the Goldman Sachs foreign currency desk as, according to Yared, the movements of the Bitcoin market are similar to those exhibited by emerging market currencies.

According to Schmidt, Goldman Sachs will consider trading Bitcoin directly - paradoxically referred to as "Physical Bitcoin" - if the necessary regulatory approval can be secured from the Federal Reserve and New York authorities.