Goldman Sachs’ digital assets trading unit has made the first-ever over-the-counter (OTC) crypto transaction trade, according to an announcement by its partner Galaxy Digital (TSX: GLXY).
The specific trade, a Bitcoin (BTC) non-deliverable option (NDO), marks the first cash settled crypto transaction by a major U.S.bank.
While the announcement, which could be seen as a sign of maturity and adoption of digital assets in the eyes of institutional players, didn’t provide any specifics about the trade in terms of its size and whether it was on behalf of a client or placed by Goldman itself, Max Minton, Asia Pacific head of digital assets for the bank said they are pleased to have executed their first OTC crypto trade.
Minton also noted that “this is an important development in [the bank’s] digital assets capabilities and for the broader evolution of the asset class.”
This is not the first time the New York-based Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and Michael Novogratz’s crypto investment management firm Galaxy Digital have collaborated. In June last year, Goldman started trading Bitcoin (BTC) futures with Galaxy serving as its liquidity provider on CME Group BTC futures.
The trades represented the first time that Goldman used a digital assets firm — as of the end of Q4’21 Galaxy Digital had $2.8B assets under management — as a counterparty.
“We are pleased to continue to strengthen our relationship with Goldman and expect the transaction to open the door for other banks considering OTC as a conduit for trading digital assets,” Damien Vanderwilt, the head of global markets at Galaxy Digital said in a statement.
Earlier this month, Wallstreepit reported that Goldman Sachs is connecting high networth clients to the Ether cryptocurrency (ETH) through Galaxy Digital’s Ethereum Fund.
Price Action
Goldman shares were trading down by 1.33% at $340.77 at the time of publication Tuesday. The name is down more than 11% year-to-date and flat year-over-year.
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