Less than a month after announcing its first BTC trade via OTC, Goldman Sachs intends to do the same with ETH. According to the matter of Bloomberg Canada the bank intends to launch an OTC desk for the second cryptocurrency on the market.
This desk will be used to trade ETH options between the bank’s clients. Andrei Kazantsev, head of cryptocurrencies at Goldman, said there is a demand for ETH trades from clients.
However, the executive did not set a date for the negotiations to begin, saying only that it will take place “in due course”.
Goldman Sachs was the first US bank to trade BTC over the counter (OTC). That is, a negotiation between two parties that was not mediated by an exchange.
High demand by customers
Kazantsev revealed that the Bank’s institutional clients have shown a growing interest in the digital asset industry. In this regard, George Lewin-Smith, a member of Goldman’s digital assets team, agreed.
According to Smith, ETH has become “another demanded asset class,” according to clients. As a result, the bank intends to invest in this market and attract customers.
As such, Goldman decided to incorporate the introduction of options trading. BTC being the first example last month, through a partnership with Galaxy Digital. The bank has already been trading BTC futures since 2020, but the OTC entry reveals a bigger bet by the bank
However, the Bloomberg report does not specify whether ETH options will be made the same way.
Merge increased demand
In Kazantsev’s view, one factor that led to the increase in demand for ETH was the Merge, the event that will transition the algorithm from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS). The expectation with the appreciation of ETH after the change also contributed to the growing demand.
Last year, Goldman outlined long-term valuation projections for ETH. The latest projected ETH to be worth $8,000 at the end of 2021. However, the price ended the year at around $3,500.
