Goldman Sachs Brings Bitcoin to Private Wealth Clients

Goldman Sachs plans to offer bitcoin and other digital currency investment vehicles to private wealth management clients in the second quarter.

Mary Rich, who recently became the global head of digital assets, shared the bank’s plans in a CNBC interview Wednesday. Private wealth clients usually include individuals, families and endowments with at least $25 million to invest.

“We are working closely with teams across the firm to explore ways to offer thoughtful and appropriate access to the ecosystem for private wealth clients, and that is something we expect to offer in the near-term,” Rich told CNBC.

Goldman is looking to eventually offer a “full spectrum” of digital asset investment vehicles, potentially including physical bitcoin and derivatives, Rich said in the interview. 

Goldman joins Morgan Stanley, which earlier this month became the first major investment bank to offer wealthy clients bitcoin fund exposure, in expanding digital asset offerings to clients. 

Also earlier this month, Goldman joined a slew of other firms vying for US Securities and Exchange Commission approval of a bitcoin-tied exchange-traded product. In addition, Goldman revealed that it will reopen its digital assets trading desk and begin offering bitcoin futures contracts. 

The news comes in the midst of a bitcoin bull rally largely driven by institutional investors. The largest digital currency inched above $58,000 Tuesday following news that Visa has begun settling payments in digital currencies and PayPal allows customers to pay for purchases with their cryptocurrency.