The crypto market has seen several turbulent phases over the years. The ongoing one, however, seems to be the most stormy to date. Like dominoes, companies have been collapsing one after the other. With firms in the space still trying to find their feet post the FTX episode, Goldman Sachs is reportedly looking to shell out “tens of millions of dollars” to buy or invest in crypto companies.
Mathew McDermott, Goldman Sachs’ Head of Digital Assets, told Reuters that FTX’s disintegration augmented the need for more trustworthy, regulated crypto players. He added that big banks saw an opportunity to pick up business. Without giving specific names, the executive revealed that Goldman was doing due diligence on a number of different crypto firms.
Additionally, in an interview last month, McDermott said that the company saw “some really interesting opportunities, priced much more sensibly.”
FTX Fallout: A Blessing in Disguise for Goldman?
Goldman Sachs has invested in 11 digital asset companies that provide services ranging from compliance and cryptocurrency data to blockchain management. The company also launched data service datanomy with MSCI and Coin Metrics to classify digital assets based on how they are used.
Talking about the current dented sentiment, McDermott said,
“It’s definitely set the market back in terms of sentiment, there’s absolutely no doubt of that. “FTX was a poster child in many parts of the ecosystem. But to reiterate, the underlying technology continues to perform.”
The executive went on to highlight that FTX’s collapse boosted Goldman Sachs’ trading volumes. More so, because investors were looking to trade with regulated and well-capitalized counterparties. He added,
“What’s increased is the number of financial institutions wanting to trade with us. I suspect a number of them traded with FTX, but I can’t say that with cast iron certainty.”
Parallelly, Goldman Sachs also sees recruitment opportunities as crypto and tech companies lay off staff, McDermott said, even though the bank is happy with the size of its team for now.
Also Read – Crypto: Bybit to slash 30% workforce again