Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) has hired former trader Justin Schmidt as the investment bank’s first head of digital asset markets, Finance industry news site Tearsheet reports.
"In response to client interest in various digital products, we are exploring how best to serve them in the space," Goldman Sachs spokeswoman Tiffany Galvin-Cohen said in a statement.
Rumors about Goldman’s strategy for crypto-related offerings have circulated since December after Bloomberg reported the bank is planning the launch of a crypto trading desk by the end of June. If Goldman does go ahead with a crypto desk, it will be the first major US bank to do so.
"At this point, we have not reached a conclusion on the scope of our digital asset offering," the spokesperson said.
Goldman was one of a few major financial institutions to begin clearing CME and Cboe Bitcoin futures for clients when the derivatives products launched in December.
Schmidt, a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, joins the investment bank from Seven Eight Capital, where he was a senior vice president. Previously, he was a portfolio manager at WorldQuant and a vice president at Merrill Lynch. His profile page lists "Crypto" as his current role.
By Siranush Ghazanchyan