Banking Giants Goldman Sachs and Citi Warm Up to Offering Bitcoin (BTC) Services

Looking at Bitcoin’s indomitable rise, traditional banking institutions have been compelled to offer Bitcoin services to their clients. America’s two banking giant’s Goldman Sachs and Citi Group have announced offering Bitcoin derivative products and custodial solutions to its users.

As Bloomberg announced, Goldman Sachs is all set to offer Bitcoin derivatives to Wall Street investors. The banking giant has opened up trading of non-deliverable forwards (NDFs), a derivative product tied to the Bitcoin (BTC) price.

As per the announcement, Goldman shields itself from the massive BTC price volatility by buying and selling CME Bitcoin futures in block trades in partnership with Cumberland DRW. Speaking to Bloomberg, Max Minton, Goldman’s Asia-Pacific head of digital assets said:

“Institutional demand continues to grow significantly in this space, and being able to work with partners like Cumberland will help us expand our capabilities. The new offering is “paving the way for us to evolve our nascent cash-settled crypto-currency capabilities.”
Goldman’s partnership with Cumberland DRW shows that the bank is willing to work with third-party players to make the most of the market opportunity and demand. Bitcoin’s indomitable performance and indomitable rise over the last year has been game-changing forcing many financial institutions to jump into the BTC game.

Citi Group consider Offering Bitcoin Trading and Custodial Services
In other news, banking giant Citi Group is also considering offering Bitcoin trading and custodial services to its clients. On Friday, May 7, the Financial Times reported this news quoting Citi’s global head of foreign exchange Itay Tuchman. Speaking to the publication, Tuchman said: The new offering is “paving the way for us to evolve our nascent cash-settled crypto-currency capabilities.”

Tuchman, however, added that the bank won’t rush to offering Bitcoin and crypto services. It will weigh all regulatory considerations before jumping into the game. Tuchman said:

“I don’t have any FOMO [fear of missing out] because I believe that crypto is here to stay and that we are just at the very beginning of the market,” he said. “This isn’t a space race. There is room for more than just one flag.”

This two latest news comes a day after NYDIG announced that it is working with FIS to bring Bitcoin “buying, selling, and string” services to hundreds of U.S. banks this year.