Much of 2018 has been characterized by the will-they-won’t-they relationship between Wall Street and the cryptocurrency sector. It now seems as if prominent Wall Street may postpone their entry into the cryptocurrency industry even further.

Wall Street banks cite low demand and slow progress

This news comes in a fresh article from Bloomberg. According to the piece, falling cryptocurrency prices seem to have – at least temporarily – eroded demand for institutional cryptocurrency investments.



Moreover, the article cites sources supposedly close to Goldman Sachs. According to these sources, Goldman Sachs’ work relating to cryptocurrencies has hithereto progressed slowly. As such, it has not made a noticeable difference yet.



Furthermore, the firm’s cryptocurrency-based derivatives fund has also seen disappointing results so far. It has reportedly only attracted 20 separate clients until now, according to Bloomberg’s sources.



Although the same informant added that Goldman Sachs intends to add a “digital asset specialist” to its main brokerage division, it still seems as if the company’s cryptocurrency ambitions have slowed.



In fact, Justin Schmidt – who was hired by Goldman Sachs to head the organization’s digital assets division – recently noted that the investment firm was limiting the scope of his plans.



This issue is not, however, endemic to Goldman Sachs. Morgan Stanley has reportedly been ready to offer swaps trading for Bitcoin futures for several months – but the firm has supposedly not received a single order for this.



Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how this matter continues to develop, as always. Morgan Stanley is reportedly still ready to launch the product as soon as there is any discernible demand for it.

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Barclays have all faced setbacks

Moreover, these issues are supposedly also faced by both Citigroup and Barclays. Whilst Citigroup has reportedly not sold a single cryptocurrency-related product as of yet, Barclays has lost two digital asset-related employees, and does not intend to open a cryptocurrency-related trading desk.



This comes as cryptocurrency prices have suffered a significant price fall, as a culmination of the year-long bearish trend. However, it should be noted that several observers are suggesting this trend is about to be reversed.

Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz recently commented on the issue of institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies. Specifically, he suggested that the first and second quarter of 2019 might see a flurry of cryptocurrency activity from institutional actors.

Image Source: “Flickr”