As cryptocurrencies reclaim the $2 trillion market capitalization, the interest of investors in the emerging asset class keeps on growing, driving major financial actors such as Goldman Sachs to start offering them as investment vehicles to their clients.
Specifically, the global banking giant plans to start offering its first investment vehicles for Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies to its clients in the second quarter of 2022, according to Mary Rich, the new global head of digital assets for Goldman’s private wealth management division.
The bank’s ultimate goal is to introduce support for a “full spectrum” of digital assets, “whether through the physical Bitcoin, derivatives or traditional investment vehicles,” she told CNBC in an interview published on March 31.
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″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 explained.
Client demand for crypto wins despite skepticism
In particular, Rich’s division mostly caters to individuals, families, and endowments that have at least $25 million to invest. She took note of the growing interest of these clients in digital assets, commenting that:
“There’s a contingent of clients who are looking to this asset as a hedge against inflation, and the macro backdrop over the past year has certainly played into that. There are also a large contingent of clients who feel like we’re sitting at the dawn of a new Internet in some ways and are looking for ways to participate in this space.”
Interestingly, Finbold has earlier reported on a study that found that only 15% of investment advisors in 2021 were willing to allocate a portion of their portfolios to crypto, with the other 85% still not trusting cryptocurrencies as a valid investment choice.
However, the same survey also found that as many as 94% of the financial advisors had received inquiries about crypto from their clients, proving that there’s no lack of interest in them among the investors themselves.
