The investment bank giant has executed its plans to expand its Ethereum (ETH) trading options, regardless of the weekend’s crypto crash.
Goldman Sachs started trading a derivative asset tied to ETH on Monday, June 13. The asset is intended to provide investors with indirect exposure to Ethereum – the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
The counterparty of the trade was Marex Financial – a London-based financial services firm.
A day before the entire crypto market fell to lows unseen since December 2020. The total market is now worth less than $1 trillion, with Bitcoin’s market cap coming closer to $400 billion.
The bank’s move seemingly indicates a sense of long-term faith in crypto as an asset class, despite recent downturns. In January, the company’s former CEO admitted that crypto is “happening” after being a longtime skeptic.
In the past, majority of Goldman Sach’s crypto trading options has centered around Bitcoin-linked derivatives, after restarting crypto trading services in July of 2021. It became the first major US bank to offer a Bitcoin OTC options trade in March. In April this year, Goldman issued its first Bitcoin backed load.
The bank initially expected Ether to reach $8,000 by the end of 2021, but that prediction fell far off target.
Back in February of 2020, both Goldman Sachs and Citigroup experimented with a blockchain-based equity swap, similar to those possible with Ethereum.
