Goldman Sachs is not sold on the idea that cryptocurrencies have value. Despite the latest surge in prices, Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, chief investment officer (CIO) of the Wall Street bank’s Wealth Management unit says clients aren’t interested in exposure to the asset class.
Some time ago, a crypto enthusiast approached Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani and asked why she was so anti-digital currencies. Mossavar-Rahmani was used to defending herself. As the chief investment officer at Goldman Sachs Wealth Management she has guided thousands of wealth advisers, clients and traders throughout her 23 years at the company.
Goldman Sachs stands firm on its negative stance
As one of the few Wall Street banks to take a negative stance against crypto, Goldman Sachs isn’t backing down and believes that the asset has no value.
It’s no secret Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, chief investment officer of the bank’s Wealth Management unit, is skeptical about Bitcoin and other digital assets. Her opinion hasn’t changed and it was confirmed in a recent interview.
“We do not think it is an investment asset class,” she told the Wall Street Journal, “We’re not believers in crypto.”
In spite of the fact that TradFi competitors like BlackRock and Fidelity stepped up their crypto game earlier this year after clients expressed interest in bitcoin exposure, Goldman’s clients don’t want anything to do with it, according to Mossavar-Rahmani.
It is impossible for her to really assess the asset’s worth, which is why she sees no value in it. “If you cannot assign a value, then how can you be bullish or bearish?” she said.
The industry is even hypocritical to a degree, according to her, since crypto enthusiasts “all proclaim democratization of finance, yet the main decisions end up being driven by a few controlling people.”
This Wall Street bank might not, but others do
While Goldman Sachs doesn’t participate in the crypto space, many of its competitors do. JP Morgan Chase, for instance, launched its own blockchain platform in 2020, which now employs 100 people. In the meantime, Citigroup Inc. is exploring the possibility of tokenizing private funds. As reported on the 14th of February, Citibank used Avalanche’s (AVAX) Spruce Subnet to explore tokenizing private equity funds to re-architect capital markets.
However, as of press time, the global crypto market cap is $2.48T, down 1.71% from yesterday. The total crypto market volume is $128.28B, which represents a 12.66% increase over the past day.
