Survey: 40% of Goldman Sachs clients already have exposure to cryptocurrencies

U.S. banking giant Goldman Sachs has officially confirmed its plans to restart its cryptocurrency trading desk amid growing investor demand.

Matt McDermott, global head of digital assets at Goldman Sachs’ Global Markets division, announced that the firm will offer exposure to CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange ) Bitcoin ( BTC ) futures on its upcoming crypto platform . During an appearance on the “Exchanges at Goldman Sachs” podcast on Friday, the executive also noted that Goldman Sachs will offer crypto services in non-deliverable forwards (NDFs), which are cash-settled, typically short-term forward contracts.

McDermott noted that Goldman Sachs’ crypto platform will initially be limited to these two products, saying:

“We’re actually going to be working with the crypto trading desk, and our engagement will be very narrow at first, but we’re going to be focused on CME futures and non-deliverable forwards. We’re also now distributing bitcoin content to our institutional clients through our Marquee platform.”

McDermott said Goldman's move into crypto was in response to growing client demand. Citing an internal survey of nearly 300 clients, the executive said 40% of Goldman's investors currently have exposure to cryptocurrencies. "The demand is actually a little high in my opinion, but I think it reflects the demand over the past three to six months," he said.

The executive also said that 61% of clients surveyed by Goldman Sachs expect to increase their digital asset holdings next year. McDermott said that 76% of respondents believe that the price of Bitcoin will be between $40,000 and $100,000 by the end of 2021. However, he pointed out that only 22% expect Bitcoin to break the $100,000 mark by the end of 2021.

Goldman Sachs initially wanted to establish a cryptocurrency trading desk in 2018 and announced the plan in late 2017. At the time, Bitcoin reached $20,000 in December 2017, which was at its previous all-time high. After the crypto market experienced a massive sell-off in 2018, there were rumors that Goldman Sachs had canceled its plans to establish a cryptocurrency trading desk. In 2019, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon denied that the bank had ever planned to open a cryptocurrency trading desk.

In a recent interview, McDermott pointed out that the existing crypto space is very different from 2017 in terms of growing institutional demand. “2017 was largely a retail-driven market. This time around, we’re seeing a lot of institutional demand from a variety of industries.”