Goldman Sachs plans to spin-out its digital assets platform as an independent company within the next 12 to 18 months, Bloomberg reported.
According to the report, Goldman Sachs is in partnership talks with several market players to lay the foundations for the new company. However, the transformation will depend on regulatory approvals and the plans are still in the early stages.
The newly formed company will enable financial institutions to develop, trade and process financial instruments using blockchain technology. Goldman Sachs will collaborate with electronic trading platform Tradeweb Markets to explore new trading applications for the digital asset platform.
“Owning something that the industry owns benefits the market,” said Mathew McDermott, global head of digital assets at Goldman Sachs, describing the platform’s vision as collaborative. The division aims to provide a broad range of services, including facilitating secondary transactions for private digital asset companies. This will provide access to liquidity for investors such as family offices, while buyers will have the opportunity to invest at special market discounts.
Goldman Sachs also plans to continue its bitcoin-backed lending operations, given the growing demand for digital asset financial services. “If you want to build a scalable market, it’s important to have the right strategic participants that embrace this technology,” McDermott said. “We aim to reach a large enough audience to operate at a pace that’s driven by trade.”
