Wall Street’s adoption of digital assets shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, they don’t even need to tell us, since the proof is in the fine print. This week, A United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing revealed that multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs has been quietly offering clients exposure to Ether (ETH) through Galaxy Digital, a financial services provider focused on cryptocurrencies led by billionaire Mike Novogratz.
Of course, this is not the first time that Goldman has worked with Galaxy Digital to offer clients a gateway to digital assets. In June 2021, the investment giant began trading a Bitcoin (BTC) futures project in collaboration with Galaxy Digital. Like other financial services giants, Goldman Sachs sees things clearly and realizes that cryptocurrencies are an emerging asset class with long-term potential. Either that or your clients really want to invest in cryptocurrencies.
This week’s Crypto Biz newsletter features classic stories about a major Wall Street bank expanding its cryptocurrency offerings and venture capital continuing to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into blockchain startups. We also dive deeper into Binance’s new crypto-to-fiat gateway.
Goldman Sachs is connecting clients with Galaxy Digital’s ETH fund
According to regulatory documents filed with the SEC, Goldman Sachs has already started offering ETH investments to its clients through Galaxy Digital, possibly opening the door to broader institutional adoption of digital assets.. The Form D filing, which was filed by Galaxy Digital, listed Goldman Sachs as a recipient of introductory fees for referring clients to the Galaxy ETH Fund. According to the filing, Goldman accepts a “minimum investment” of $250,000 per client for investment product exposure. Curiously, The filing appeared on the SEC website just two days after Goldman senior chairman Lloyd Blankfein tweeted that he “keeps an open mind on crypto.”
Keeping an open mind about crypto, but given the inflating US dollar and the stark reminder that governments can and will under certain circumstances freeze accounts and block payments, wouldn’t you think crypto would be having a moment now? Not seeing it in the price, so far….
— Lloyd Blankfein (@lloydblankfein) March 7, 2022
Keeping an open mind on crypto, but given the inflated US dollar and the stark reminder that governments can and will, under certain circumstances, freeze accounts and block payments, don’t you think crypto is having its moment now? Not seeing it in the price, until now…
Bain Capital Ventures Establishes $500M Fund for Crypto Projects
The crypto economy has received renewed interest from the venture capital community after Bain Capital Ventures, a Massachusetts-based asset management firm, will announce the creation of a $560 million fund dedicated to blockchain startups.. According to Bloomberg, the firm has already invested $100 million in 12 undisclosed projects. Cointelegraph managed to get in touch with a representative from Bain Capital Ventures, who informed us that the crypto fund is focused on supporting the open infrastructure of the internet, which likely means Web3. I have spent the last six months shouting from the rooftop that venture capital funding is changing the makeup of the crypto industry. Not factoring in the appreciation of crypto asset prices, the influx of venture capital is one of the most bullish indicators we have for the industry at the moment.
Binance to Focus on Crypto Payments with New Bifinity Subsidiary
As the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, Binance has many resources to address the growing needs of the digital asset community. This week, hehe company led by Changpeng Zhao introduced Bifinity, a new fiat-to-cryptocurrency payment gateway that enables traders to provide cryptocurrency services to their clients. Bifinity has already secured partnerships with crypto-focused platforms like Safepal and Zilliqa, as well as payment solutions Paysafe and Checkout.com. Binance has been exploring fiat gateways since at least 2020 and only recently finalized its acquisition of Swipe, a leading provider of Visa crypto cards. (I’ll be honest though, the partnership with Zilliqa, a blockchain sharding developer, was a bit of a surprise.)
Andreessen Horowitz invests $70 million in Lido, an Ethereum staking protocol
Silicon Valley venture firm, Andreessen Horowitz has caused another stir in the cryptocurrency market by investing $70 million in Ethereum staking solution Lido Finance. Lido developers will use the cash injection to further support the adoption of staking solutions in Ethereum 2.0, which has been rebranded as the consensus layer. Andreessen likes Lido because the protocol makes it easier for users to stake Ether without having to reach the 32 ETH threshold to become a network validator. Although 32 ETH did not amount to much a few years ago, it now costs almost $90,000 at current prices.
Excited to share that @a16z you have invested $70M in @LidoFinance, one of the easiest ways to stake ETH and other PoS assets, and we used Lido to stake a portion of our ETH holdings on the Beacon chain. More from @DarenMatsuoka & @_PorterSmith: https://t.co/vc2tzDJ3mS
— cdixon.eth (@cdixon) March 3, 2022
Excited to share that @a16z has invested $70M in @LidoFinance, one of the easiest ways to stake ETH and other PoS assets, and we use Lido to stake a portion of our ETH holdings on the Beacon Chain. .
Before you leave…
The Terra ecosystem continues to generate a lot of buzz in the cryptocurrency community. This week, the native token of the Terra network (LUNA) hit new all-time highs after a 30% rally in just three days. The latest edition of The Market Report took a deep dive into the emerging projects of the Terra ecosystem. You can watch the replay to learn more about exciting projects like StarTerra, Loop Finance, and Mirror Protocol.
Crypto Biz is your weekly alternative to the business behind blockchain and crypto space delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday.
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