This year, the established organizations have slowed their already halting initiatives to make a business out of Bitcoin. While some of them continue to develop a trading infrastructure, most flinched as the value of virtual coins collapsed.
Source: Wikipedia
For Goldman Sachs Group Inc., progress has been so slow as to be barely noticeable. Experts in the sector say it was a mistake to have expected that last year’s crypto frenzy will translate to a Wall Street token offering.
The firm was among the first on Wall Street to offer Bitcoin futures and was a news highlight for preparing a crypto trading desk. After considering a custody service for crypto funds, the firm also invested in custodian BitGo Holdings Inc.
"The bank has yet to offer trading of crypto and has gained little traction for its NDF product, having signing up just 20 clients, according to people familiar with the matter. Justin Schmidt, who was hired to head its digital-asset business, said at an industry conference last month that regulators are limiting what he can do. Still, Goldman plans to add a digital-assets specialist to its prime brokerage division, the person said." wrote Bloomberg.
Morgan Stanley has been technically prepared to offer swaps tracking Bitcoin futures since at least September, but till now has not traded a single contract. Meanwhile, Citigroup Inc. has failed to trade the products it created for digital assets in the existing regulatory system. Barclays Plc’s client interest on a cryptocurrency trading platform appears to have abandoned their plans.
Even after the drop that erased at least $700 billion from the overall market cap of crypto assets, believers remain stuck to their script. This is also the case despite the staggering sell-off in 2018 one year after Bitcoin (BTC) came close to $20,000, the token now trades at $4,000. pros see signs institutions are getting ready to jump back in if they need to.
“It appears as if progress is coming to a halt, yet nothing could be further from the truth, the bear market is going to allow many of these institutions to build the proper foundations without rushing to build-out infrastructure without adequate testing for fear of missing out on a gold rush.” said Eugene Ng, a former Deutsche Bank AG trader in Singapore.
