Goldman Sachs is preparing to launch three new tokenization products later this year in the United States and Europe following “a major uptick in interest from clients” in crypto, according to Fortune, which published an interview with Mathew McDermott, the investment bank’s global head of digital assets, on July 10.
McDermott declined to specify details but did say that Goldman Sachs plans to create marketplaces for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and would focus on the “fund complex” in the United States and European debt markets, according to the report.
McDermott reportedly added that the investment bank plans to target financial institutions, rather than retail investors, with its new products and will rely exclusively on permissioned blockchains. He said the RWA marketplace would differentiate itself with the speed of execution and by expanding the types of assets that can be used as collateral.
McDermott reportedly attributed the “renewed momentum in crypto” to the ongoing proliferation of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for digital assets. Almost a dozen Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs have been listed since January when US regulators gave the investment vehicles a final greenlight. Regulators are now reviewing registration filings for several spot Ether (ETH) ETFs, which analysts expect to start trading as soon as this month.
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Funds that specialize in RWAs are gaining traction in the US. This is particularly true for funds that deal in tokenized money market instruments, such as the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), which reached $500 million in assets under management earlier this week. Franklin Templeton’s OnChain US Government Money Fund (FOBXX) ranks a close second with approximately $400 million in assets under management.
Related: BlackRock tokenized treasury fund BUIDL reaches $500M
According to Fortune, the investment bank’s opportunities in crypto could expand even further in the coming months if the upcoming presidential election softens the US regulatory stance on the industry.
“There could be other things that we as a firm would naturally be interested, subject to approval, to do, like execution and maybe sub-custody,” McDermott reportedly said.
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