Goldman Sachs Clients Not Interested in Crypto, Says Chief Investment Officer: WSJ

• Goldman Sachs stands firm on its belief that cryptocurrencies have no value.

• The chief investment officer of the banks Wealth Management unit, Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, says clients have not voiced interest in exposure to the asset class, even after the latest surge in prices.

Goldman Sachs, nowadays one of the few Wall Street banks to do so, isn’t backing away from its negative stance against crypto, as it doesn’t see any value in the asset.

Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, chief investment officer of the bank’s Wealth Management unit, has long been known for her skepticism of bitcoin and other digital assets, and her opinion hasn’t changed, according to a recent interview.

“We do not think it is an investment asset class,” she told the Wall Street Journal, “We’re not believers in crypto.”

Even after TradFi competitors such as BlackRock and Fidelity earlier this year decided to double down on their efforts in the crypto industry after clients expressed their interest in getting exposure specifically to bitcoin, Goldman’s clients want nothing to do with it, according to Mossavar-Rahmani.

One of the reasons she sees no value in the asset is because it’s not possible to really evaluate its worth. “If you cannot assign a value, then how can you be bullish or bearish?” she said.

She even criticized the industry for being hypocritical, saying that crypto enthusiasts “all proclaim democratization of finance, yet the main decisions end up being driven by a few controlling people.”

Unlike Goldman Sachs, many of its competitors have taken steps to participate in the crypto space. J.P. Morgan Chase, for example, in 2020 launched its own blockchain platform, which now employs over 100 people. Meanwhile, Citigroup Inc. is exploring private fund tokenization.

Updated 4/2/2024 19:35 to specify that Mossavar-Rahmani is the CIO of the bank’s Wealth Management unit.