Goldman Sachs, the global finance market’s second largest investment bank behind JPMorgan, will begin trading Bitcoin (EXANTE: Bitcoin) futures for its clients, Bloomberg quoted a source familiar with the company’s bitcoin futures trading plan as saying.
In the short-term, Bitcoin future trades made by Goldman Sachs on behalf of its clients will be processed on a case-by-case basis.
In a statement, Goldman Sachs spokeswoman Tiffany Galvin said: “Given that this is a new product, as expected we are evaluating the specifications and risk attributes for the bitcoin futures contracts as part of our standard due diligence process.”
Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein said last month that it’s too early for his bank to need a bitcoin strategy and that he doesn’t consider the digital currency to be a store of value.
Blankfein said in the Bloomberg Television interview that he felt no urgency for his firm to develop a plan for dealing with bitcoin given its volatility.
The Bitcoin futures exchange of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), is set to launch on December 10.
Large-scale investment banks and hedge funds such as Goldman Sachs and Man Group plan to invest in the cryptocurrency upon the launch of CBOE and CME’s Bitcoin futures exchanges, given that those two markets are expected to significantly increase the liquidity of Bitcoin.