SEC documents show that financial services giant Goldman Sachs has invested nearly $2 billion into Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) exchange traded funds (ETFs).
The filing reveals that the banking firm now holds $1.63 billion in Bitcoin ETFs, $196.3 million in Ethereum ETFs and a large part of its investments are in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT).
Goldman Sachs owns 24,077,861 shares of IBIT that is worth more than $1.33 billion, as well as 3,530,486 shares of the Fidelity Wise Origin BTC (FBTC) that is worth over $300 million. Moreover, the bank possesses 49,183 holdings of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which is worth around $3.7 million.
Regulatory Barriers Prevent Goldman Sachs’ Bitcoin Ownership
The firm owns 7,024,747 shares of the Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH) valued at over $191.1 million, as well as 200,000 shares of the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust ETF for over $5.1 million in the Ethereum segment.
In 2024, the SEC gave approval to BTC and ETH based ETFs which enable investors to own the leading cryptocurrencies indirectly. Goldman Sachs, although it holds a huge quantity of crypto ETFs, adores being careful using cryptocurrency trading.
CEO David Solomon, however, was not in favor of accepting cryptocurrencies like BTC as principal assets in December, saying regulatory restrictions prevent the bank from doing so. Solomon stated:
“At the moment, as a regulated banking institution, we’re not allowed to own a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin as a principal. We give our clients advice around a variety of these technologies and these issues and will continue to do that, but for the moment our ability to act in these markets is extremely limited from a regulatory perspective.”
