Goldman Sachs is Preparing to Offer Crypto Custody Services, According to New Report

Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs is preparing to enter the cryptocurrency industry as a custodial service provider, according to a new report. The custody service would allow Goldman Sachs to secure digital assets for retail and institutional investors.

As the crypto industry has grown over time, several major holes have emerged. The lack of a regulated crypto custody service is one such hole. Over the past year, that has been changing. Coinbase has launched a crypto custody service catered to institutions, for example. Now, it appears Goldman Sachs is entering the game by launching its own crypto custody service.

Goldman Sachs is one of the country’s biggest financial institutions, which is why it’s a huge deal whenever crypto and Goldman Sachs are mentioned in the same sentence.

A crypto custody service allows investors to participate in the crypto investing industry without actually holding, storing, or managing cryptoassets themselves. An institutional investor might want to gain exposure to bitcoin, for example, without having the expertise to store millions of dollars of bitcoin securely. Goldman Sachs would keep that bitcoin in a secured location. That bitcoin would be insured against loss if anything goes wrong. That’s how regulated crypto custody services work.

Institutional investors are already dipping their toes into the crypto investing world. However, you don’t have to look far to find examples of institutional investors losing customers’ funds or having an entire wallet go missing. Meanwhile, institutions don’t have the expertise to store crypto securely themselves. Furthermore, certain institutional investors – like hedge funds – are legally required to keep assets in regulated custodial vaults.

That’s why it’s a big deal that Goldman Sachs is preparing to get involved with crypto custody services.

Goldman Sachs is one of the most prominent banks in the United States. Over the last year, we’ve heard growing rumors of Goldman Sachs getting involved with bitcoin. There have been rumors of Goldman Sachs launching a crypto trading desk, for example. Goldman Sachs has also been rumored to be launching its own investment product based on bitcoin. Now, we have news about Goldman Sachs launching a regulated crypto custody service.

Bloomberg first reported the connection between Goldman Sachs and a crypto custody service in August 2018. However, the news has resurfaced this past week.

Here’s how Bloomberg explained the news at the time:

“[Goldman Sachs] is considering a plan to offer custody for crypto funds, according to people with knowledge of the matter. That means the bank would hold the newfangled securities on behalf of the funds, reducing risk for clients seeking to guard against the threat of losing their investments to rogue attacks.”

Circle Launches Goldman Sachs-Backed Stablecoin

Goldman Sachs made headlines for other reasons earlier today. Circle, which is backed by Goldman Sachs, just launched a stablecoin USDC.

The launch comes just weeks after Gemini and Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss launched their own Gemini Dollar stablecoin.

The two stablecoins are expected to compete with Tether and other existing options across exchanges.

Ultimately, we don’t have any further information about the crypto custody service planned by Goldman Sachs. It’s possible that Bloomberg is merely reporting rumors, and that Goldman Sachs is exploring the idea – but isn’t close to launching it. We’ll know more over about Goldman Sachs’ crypto custody service over the coming weeks.