Goldman Sachs Makes Its First Bitcoin-Backed Loan

The global investment bank allowed a borrower to use the cryptocurrency as collateral for a cash loan.

AccessTimeIconApr 28, 2022 at 8:41 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 5:35 p.m. UTC
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Goldman Sachs (GS) has offered its first bitcoin-backed loan in the latest sign that Wall Street is moving further into crypto. Bloomberg first reported on the news.

  • Goldman’s secured lending facility allowed a borrower to use bitcoin (BTC) as collateral for a cash loan.
  • "We recently extended a secured lending facility where we lent fiat collateralized on BTC; BTC being owned by the borrower," a Goldman spokeswoman told CoinDesk in an email. "The interesting piece for us was the structure and the 24-7-365 day risk management."
  • Goldman, which has a dedicated digital assets team, traded its first over-the-counter bitcoin options to Galaxy Digital last month.
  • Goldman is following in the footsteps of other traditional finance giants moving further into crypto. Last month, Cowen launched a digital assets unit and BlackRock (BLK) participated in the $400 million funding round for USDC stablecoin creator Circle.
  • Earlier Thursday, news broke that private equity investment behemoth Apollo Global Management had hired former JPMorgan (JPM) executive Christine Moy to serve as its first head of digital assets strategy.
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  • UPDATE (April 28, 21:33 UTC): Updated sourcing and added comments from Goldman Sachs.

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    Brandy Betz

    Brandy covered crypto-related venture capital deals for CoinDesk.


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