According to a report published on July 10, Goldman Sachs plans to begin tokenization projects by the end of 2024, with a focus on real estate and money market funds.
Fortune reported that Goldman Sachs seeks to leverage public or private blockchains to tokenize real-world assets (RWAs), enhancing investment opportunities. The company’s three projects with major clients include its first in the United States.
RWAs as New Investment Opportunities
Prior to this, the bank worked on tokenization projects for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the European Investment Bank, namely bond issuance and sovereign green bond issuance. These initiatives are part of Goldman’s broader strategy to offer digital asset solutions.
GOLDMAN SACHS TO LAUNCH THREE TOKENIZATION PROJECTS BY END OF YEAR, SAYS DIGITAL ASSETS CHIEF
— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) July 10, 2024
As its peers in traditional finance push deeper into crypto—including BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF and Fidelity’s trading platform—Goldman Sachs is preparing to make a move of its own. This…
Goldman Sachs’ global head of digital assets, Matthew McDermott, stressed the significance of developing products that appeal to investors. At the bank’s recent digital assets summit in London, tokenized assets generated a lot of client interest.
McDermott stated, “There is no point doing it just for the sake of it.” “It is clear from the feedback that this will genuinely alter the way they can make investments.”
Tokenization Projects in the US and Europe
Additionally, McDermott said that the introduction of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) was creating a “renewed momentum in crypto,” but not everyone at Goldman Sachs is as excited about this.
According to McDermott, “the nice thing about an institution of our size is there are differing views.” “We’ve continued to see, certainly this year, an uptick and a broadening in the product suite that clients would like to see available.”
Three tokenization projects are scheduled to launch this year; McDermott did not provide specifics, but he did note that two of the projects are focused on debt issuance in Europe and the fund complex in the United States, respectively.
He mentioned that the bank might have more opportunities in this area, such as holding spot cryptocurrency assets.
Subject to approval, he stated, “there might be other things that we as a firm would naturally be interested in doing, like execution and maybe sub-custody.”