Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) CEO once said that he wasn’t going to “pooh pooh” on Bitcoin. He’s kept his word, and what’s even better for the crypto space is the bank’s seemingly growing acceptance of the crypto.
That acceptance is reflected in a recent move by the bank to hire a crypto player to play a major role in how it approaches digital products. The area of digital products includes cryptos, and its been a subject of interest among Goldman’s clients.
Let’s discuss.
You’re hired
According to Tearsheet, Goldman Sachs hired Justin Schmidt to be the first head of digital asset markets for its securities division. He hails from Seven Eight Capital where he was a senior vice president. Before that, he was a portfolio manager at LMR Partners.
Specifically, Schmidt, who started April 16, is charged with helping the bank gauge client interest in trading Bitcoin and other cryptos.
The following was stated in a Goldman Sachs release on the hire:
In response to client interest in various digital products, we are exploring how best to serve them in the space. At this point, we have not reached a conclusion on the scope of our digital asset offering.
Keeping up with the times
Interesting about the hire is that it shows how banks are under pressure to consider crypto-trading due to interest from their clients.
We’ve reported to you countless stories about bank CEOs and other crypto pundits who were so resistant to the idea of cryptos, especially Bitcoin, it seemed they’d never come around. You may recall Goldman Sach’s CEO Lloyd Blankfein taking a more wait-and-see approach.
We told you about him saying in December that he wasn’t willing to “pooh pooh” on Bitcoin.
Here’s his quote:
“[Bitcoin’s] not for me. But there are a lot of things that were not for me in the past that worked out very well. If it was 20 years forward and it worked out, I could tell you why it worked out. But based on everything I know [about Bitcoin], I’m not guessing that it will work out. But I not going to stand there and be strident and say it’s a fraud it won’t [work out] because it might.”
This article appeared first on Cryptovest
