Goldman Sachs CFO: Recent Reports About Crypto Trading Desk Are ‘Fake News’?
Goldman Sachs Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Martin Chavez said that recent reports about the company abandoning its plans to open a cryptocurrency trading desk are “fake news,” CNBC reported September 6.
At the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference in San Francisco, Chavez reportedly said that reports about the company’s intentions for a crypto trading desk were unfounded:
“I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD HEAR MYSELF USE THIS TERM BUT I REALLY HAVE TO DESCRIBE THAT NEWS AS FAKE NEWS.”
Rumors that Goldman Sachs planned to establish a crypto-focused unit by the end of 2018 were initially reportedby Bloomberg in December last year. However, on September 5, Business Insider reported that unnamed sources said the firm is scrapping crypto trading desk plans due to an unclear regulatory environment in the crypto industry. Chavez suggested that the excitement over a potential trading desk may have been premature. CNBC quotes him saying:
“WHEN WE TALKED ABOUT EXPLORING DIGITAL ASSETS […] IT WAS GOING TO BE EXPLORATION THAT WOULD BE EVOLVING OVER TIME. MAYBE SOMEONE WHO WAS THINKING ABOUT OUR ACTIVITIES HERE GOT VERY EXCITED THAT WE WOULD BE MAKING MARKETS AS PRINCIPAL AND PHYSICAL BITCOIN, AND AS THEY GOT INTO IT THEY REALIZED PART OF THE EVOLUTION BUT ITS NOT HERE YET.”
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