Wall Street giants focus on cryptocurrency business even during downturn

1 year ago 71

Expanding Digital Asset Business

Major financial companies on Wall Street in the United States are promoting digital asset businesses amid the sluggish crypto asset (virtual currency) market due to the effects of the Terra riots and the FTX bankruptcy.

On January 31st, Bloomberg published an article summarizing the efforts of each company. Even in the winter of cryptocurrencies, traditional financial giants are finding digital assets attractive and looking to expand their business.

Efforts of each company

black rock

First, global investment firm BlackRock is reportedly considering a digital asset business in the capital markets. This was explained by one of the sources. The company had already entered the digital asset space last year, such as by partnering with US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

Relation: US BlackRock partners with Coinbase to offer cryptocurrency trading

Bloomberg sources say BlackRock is focusing on four areas:

stablecoin
permissioned blockchain
Asset tokenization
virtual currency

BNY melon

BNY Mellon is another Wall Street financial firm pushing the digital assets business. The company officially launched its previously reported custody service last October.

Relation: US BNY Mellon launches virtual currency storage service

In November of the same year, a survey report was published on 271 international asset management companies with $1 trillion (approximately 130 trillion yen) of assets under management (AUM) regarding investment in digital assets. At that time, he said that “the need to support hybrid portfolios that combine traditional assets and digital assets” is increasing, and that “tradfi (traditional finance) with traditional rails” should take on the challenge. .

Relation: US BNY Mellon “76% of institutional investors hold or are considering holding virtual currency”

According to Bloomberg, BNY Mellon is also eyeing the potential of blockchain technology in financial markets.

goldman sachs

Goldman Sachs is also one of the major financial companies in the United States that is involved in the cryptocurrency business. Bloomberg also cites Goldman Sachs as it plans to cut 3,200 jobs this year, the largest since the Lehman Shock.

Relation: Goldman Sachs willing to buy cryptocurrency companies = report

The company is engaged in virtual currency business, such as providing Ethereum (ETH) funds to clients, but has also shown interest in blockchain technology. In June 2021, it was reported that JP Morgan’s blockchain platform Onyx was used to tokenize US long-term government bonds for trading.

Relation: Goldman Sachs Leverages JP Morgan’s Proprietary Blockchain for Bond-Related Transactions

Fidelity Investments

In addition to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum, Fidelity Investments plans to expand its custody service to include more stocks. On the other hand, it is not in a hurry to do so, and it is also considering offering staking and lending services.

Relation: US Fidelity to start offering BTC/ETH trading for individual investors

What is lending

It is a mechanism that earns interest by lending the virtual currency held for a certain period of time. Domestic exchanges also offer services.

Cryptocurrency Glossary