Officials at Barclays Plc have revealed that they are seriously considering the possibility of launching the company’s own cryptocurrency trading platform, if they do so, it would most probably further motivate institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies. Despite the fact that the bank later cleared up that it has not started working towards creating a crypto exchange operation, however, the bank did reveal that it had opened discussions with customers.

Evaluating Client Interest

Earlier on Monday, 16th April Bloomberg reported that in an attempt to determine if the new business model is feasible or not, Barclays is currently evaluating institutional demand for the cryptocurrency. Citing anonymous sources, the report pointed out that a preparatory evaluation had been unbraced, however information in that report was not revealed. A similar source additionally said that a crypto-trading operation would require endorsement from CEO Tim Throsby and maybe even Jes Staley, who also serves as the CEO of Barclays.

Later on, a statement was issued by a spokesperson at the British Bank which reads as follows: “We regularly analyze developments in the digital currency space and will continue to have a dialog with our clients regarding their demands and expectations for this market.”

Evaluating Institutional Demand

Barclays is United Kingdom’s second-biggest bank by assets and its entry into the crypto space would definitely appeal to a majority of businesses within the institutional circles. For some, institutional capital is important to conquer liquidity imperatives currently tormenting the market. For traders, ‘liquidity imperatives’ produce extraordinary variances in prices, which makes it hard to measure supply/demand attributes in the market.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc is all set to become the first major bank to set up a virtual currency trading platform. According to reports from back in December 2017, it disclosed that the new business venture is expected to be launched by the end of June.

While Goldman is all set to create markets in bitcoin, it’s not yet been revealed which other cryptocurrencies will be supported. Also, the news that Goldman strategists believe that most cryptocurrencies do not have a future and are heading to zero but it should not come as a surprise. Quite notably this is an opinion shared by any crypto moguls like Vitalik Buterin and others.

We have previously witnessed what ‘institutional demand’ can present for cryptocurrencies. Following the news that major exchanges CBOE and CME Group were planning to launch bitcoin futures, the crypto market enjoyed tremendous gains back in November and December 2017. Currently, in its effort to democratize cryptocurrency, CBOE is supporting bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

In spite of the fact that initial adoption for bitcoin future was quite less, this is expected to change as financial specialists more averse to risks are on the hunt for more secure approaches to enter the market.

There is sufficient evidence out there suggesting that numerous institutional investors are planning on venturing into cryptocurrency (including the likes of George Soros). a research conducted in November, by Triad and Datatrek Research revealed that nearly a quarter (36{2876df4882026c2e86682ce6494609b46f70b4615d452e4f7f6c3e9089b96e49}) of institutional investors were thinking about purchasing bitcoin while 19{2876df4882026c2e86682ce6494609b46f70b4615d452e4f7f6c3e9089b96e49} have already purchased. Moreover, 41{2876df4882026c2e86682ce6494609b46f70b4615d452e4f7f6c3e9089b96e49} of respondents said they thought bitcoin had attributes which are similar to gold.