Goldman Sachs is performing “extensive research” on tokenization, the group’s chief executive told France’s Les Echos newspaper on June 27. David Solomon said he believes global payment systems are heading in the direction of stablecoins — cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat assets such as the U.S. dollar. Although he stopped short of confirming whether Goldman Sachs has had discussions with Facebook about its upcoming libra cryptocurrency and Calibra wallet, Solomon said his corporation finds the concept “interesting.” When asked whether Goldman Sachs will follow JPMorgan Chase in launching its own virtual currency, Solomon said: “Assume that all major financial institutions around …

Stablecoins have become rather frequently discussed in the news and social media over the past few weeks, especially with the news of the release of the Facebook-backed Libra coin. The current wave of stablecoin issuance could be attributed to the lack of liquidity in the cryptocurrency world. But even though the crypto market is now slowly recovering from a long bear trend, the ecosystem of stablecoins continues to expand even further. One of the most notable events in the stablecoin space was a recent announcement by Circle and Coinbase. After launching its own digital dollar — called USD Coin (USDC) …

Former Goldman Sachs exec Breanne Madigan has left her position at crypto wallet provider Blockchain.com to join Ripple, crypto media outlet The Block reported on May 28. Madigan, a Wall Street veteran with about 14 years of experience at major global investment bank Goldman Sachs, has reportedly left Blockchain.com after serving there as Head Institutional Sales and Strategy for 14 months, according to her LinkedIn profile. The former Goldman Sachs executive has reportedly joined Ripple to lead the Global Institutional Markets team to attract more institutional investment to crypto space, as she said in the report. Madigan reportedly claimed that …

This article has been updated to include comments from Truffle CEO and founder Tim Coulter. Truffle is integrating with AxCore, a proprietary blockchain jointly created by Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan-supported Axoni, Truffle CEO and founder Tim Coulter told Cointelegraph in an email. The ConsenSys spinoff, which makes tools that are widely used by Ethereum developers, has raised $3 million as it aims to expand into enterprise-grade solutions. According to Coulter, Truffle is going to use the investment to complete a suite of blockchain development tools that are designed to appeal to enterprise clients. An estimated 60% of Truffle’s revenue currently …

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has categorically refuted that the bank ever had any plans to open a crypto trading desk and stated that earlier media reports suggesting otherwise were incorrect. Solomon made his remarks before the United States House of Representatives Financial Services Committee on April 10, during a hearing entitled “Holding Megabanks Accountable: A Review of Global Systemically Important Banks 10 years after the Financial Crisis.” As previously reported, Goldman Sachs’ alleged plans to create a crypto-focused unit by the end of June 2018 were originally covered in a December 2017 report from Bloomberg. In September 2018, unnamed …

Former Goldman Sachs executive Marco Lim has reportedly been appointed as a managing partner at Hong Kong-based blockchain and cryptocurrency-focused hedge fund MaiCapital, Finance Magnates reported on Feb. 25. Prior to joining MaiCapital, Lim also served at Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, and Forex Capital Markets, specializing in foreign exchange sales, according to Lim’s LinkedIn profile. At MaiCapital, Lim is expected to bring his expertise in sales and marketing to further develop the company. Benedict Ho, a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at MaiCapital, told Finance Magnates that “Marco will focus primarily on marketing and establishing strategic partnerships for MaiCapital and its …

Solidus Labs has raised $3 million to combat crypto market manipulation, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Feb. 20. Solidus Labs is a trade surveillance firm whose team includes former Goldman Sachs fintech engineers. The company reports to help both traditional and crypto-focused service providers foster compliance while trading digital assets. Through the recent funding round, led by Israeli venture capital firm Hanaco Ventures, the team plans to further develop its crypto-oriented market surveillance tools designed for financial institutions and exchanges interacting with crypto assets. By implementing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies, Solidus analyzes trading …

Terry Duffy, CEO of leading derivative market CME Group, has said that until governments start to accept cryptocurrencies, it is very difficult for major commercial banks to get involved in the market. Duffy made his comments during an interview with Bloomberg published on Feb. 14. When asked if Bitcoin’s (BTC) price has hit its bottom, Duffy said that he is not sure. The interviewer also brought attention to the JPM Coin, the cryptocurrency soon to be launched by United States banking giant JPMorgan to increase settlement efficiency, as recently reported by Cointelegraph. Duffy outlined a change in JPMorgan Chase’s attitude …

Wall Street giants are postponing their plans to more actively enter the crypto industry as the value of cryptocurrencies has fallen, Bloomberg reports Sunday, Dec. 23. The article begins: "Limbo — that’s where to find Wall Street when it comes to cryptocurrencies," and then focuses on the efforts in the crypto sphere this year made by banking giant Goldman Sachs, multinational financial services company Morgan Stanley, major banking conglomerate Citigroup Inc. and United Kingdom financial services provider Barclays PLC. According to people familiar with Goldman Sachs’ crypto business, the firm’s progress has been too slow to be noticeable. Moreover, the …

Crypto exchange Binance has added Circle’s USD-pegged stablecoin USD Coin as a quote asset for several new trading pairs in its combined Stablecoin Market (USDⓈ). The exchange has announced this in an official post published Dec. 14. USD Coin (USDC), first announced by Goldman Sachs-backed Circle this May, and released in September, is one of a host of new stablecoins notionally pegged 1:1 to a major fiat currency. This November, Binance, currently the world’s largest crypto exchange by daily trade volume, had rebranded its Tether (USDT) Market as the combined USDⓈ market to allow for the support of more trading …

Mike Novogratz compared current cryptocurrency market performance to a “methadone clinic” in an interview with Bloomberg Dec. 11. During the interview, Bloomberg asked Novogratz how coming from Wall Street made him different from most of the cryptocurrency community, which seem to treat cryptocurrency “almost like a religion.” Novogratz answered that, while he believes in the underlying technology, “when prices get stupid,” he sells. Novogratz also characterized Bitcoin’s (BTC) enormous growth in late 2017 –– which peaked at $20,000 per coin –– “a drug.” He called the period a “speculative mania,” adding that the “audience is more sober now — the …

U.S. forex exchange (FX) settlement giant CLS’ blockchain payment netting service has gone live today, Nov. 28. According to the the company’s press release, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are among the initial users of the service, which was built in conjunction with IBM. The CLS Group reportedly settles an average of $5 trillion in payment instructions daily, and has members including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Barclays, and Citigroup. The company’s CLSNet, described as the “first global FX market enterprise application running on blockchain in production,” also has “committed” participation from six international entities including the Hong Kong branch of the …