Author: Yi He

Faced with an increasing number of institutional investors interested in digital assets, Goldman Sachs has continued to increase its layout and research in the field of encryption in recent years. This article is intended for readers who are interested in financial markets and emerging technologies, and introduces Goldman Sachs’ attitudes and actions in areas such as asset tokenization, Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins, and DeFi.

We will start from Goldman Sachs' overall strategy, focus on its strategy with "tokenization" as its core, and analyze its involvement and views on various mainstream crypto assets. At the end of the article, some industry observations and speculations are mentioned, which are for reference only and do not represent the official position.

1. Goldman Sachs’ overall strategic attitude

Goldman Sachs believes that distributed ledger technologies such as blockchain are reshaping the structure of the financial market, and this has been emphasized many times at the head office level. Mattew McDermott, global head of digital assets at Goldman Sachs, said at the official press conference, "We believe that permissioned distributed ledger technology is the next structural change in the financial market... This will bring new opportunities for buyers and sellers." In other words, Goldman Sachs regards blockchain as a direction for infrastructure upgrades and is actively building corresponding platforms (such as the self-developed GS DAP®) to cope with future market needs. This move echoes its focus on growing client demand: According to the Goldman Sachs 2025 Family Office Report, Goldman Sachs found that institutional interest in crypto assets has increased significantly—33% of family offices have invested in cryptocurrencies in 2025, up from 26% in 2023. It can be seen that the driving force behind Goldman Sachs includes both technological innovation and growing institutional needs and changes in the policy environment.

In order to respond to regulatory requirements and customer needs, Goldman Sachs chose to enter the encryption market through regulatory compliance. Banking industry analysts pointed out that Goldman Sachs has restarted and expanded its crypto trading desk to provide Bitcoin derivatives and structured products to institutional clients while avoiding direct holdings of the underlying assets.

In parallel with trading services, Goldman Sachs is also actively developing digital asset platforms, such as the launch of the GS DAP® platform. In November 2024, Goldman Sachs announced that it would spin off GS DAP technology into an independent industry-level platform and introduce trader partners (such as Tradeweb) to jointly explore blockchain financial infrastructure. These initiatives reflect Goldman Sachs' attempt to build a compliant and open digital asset ecosystem, allowing traditional financial customers to access tokenized assets through familiar channels (such as existing trading and custody networks) and lowering technical and regulatory thresholds.

2. Asset tokenization is the core direction

Goldman Sachs regards asset tokenization as one of the core of its digital strategy and has led or participated in multiple pilot projects. European Investment Bank (EIB) Digital Bond: As early as 2021, Goldman Sachs participated in the EIB's first blockchain-based bond issuance. In this project, Goldman Sachs and other banks jointly completed the issuance and settlement process of digital bonds. The bonds were registered in the form of smart contracts on the blockchain, realizing the transition from traditional T+5 day settlement to T+0 (same-day settlement). Goldman Sachs commented that this type of digital issuance has greatly improved transaction speed and transparency, demonstrating the potential of tokenization technology to transform the capital market.

GS DAP platform launched: In January 2023, Goldman Sachs announced that its independently developed digital asset platform GS DAP® was officially put into operation. The platform is based on Digital Asset's Daml protocol and Canton privacy chain, and is designed to support the full life cycle management of various assets (bonds, funds, cash instruments, etc.) on private chains. The first online application was the European Investment Bank's digital bond - the bond was settled in real time on the platform, setting a record for a single bond transaction to be settled within 60 seconds. After the platform was launched, Goldman Sachs conducted a number of cooperations targeting different markets. In July 2024, Mathew McDermott, head of digital assets at Goldman Sachs, said that three tokenization projects will be launched this year, focusing on the US and European markets: including creating a tokenized asset trading venue that institutional investors can participate in, accelerating on-chain transactions of traditional funds and bonds, and enriching the types of assets that can be used as collateral. These projects aim to meet changes in customer demand for tokenized products and improve market efficiency with the help of blockchain technology.

GS DAP platform independence: In November 2024, Goldman Sachs officially announced plans to independently spin off the GS DAP platform and transform it into a distributed infrastructure for industry cooperation. This move means that Goldman Sachs will join hands with other financial institutions to promote the application and development of digital asset platforms, while it will continue to exist as a technology provider and market participant. Goldman Sachs stated that it is willing to cooperate with partners including exchanges, brokers, custodian banks, etc. to connect their trading liquidity to the GS DAP platform to achieve synergy. For example, GS DAP has cooperated with platforms such as Tradeweb to integrate traditional fixed income transactions into the tokenized ecosystem to explore more asset trading methods.

Tokenization of money market funds: After entering 2025, Goldman Sachs’ tokenization efforts have yielded new results. In July 2025, Goldman Sachs and Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) launched an innovative solution: allowing institutional investors to subscribe and redeem money market fund shares through BNY's LiquidityDirect platform using the GS DAP technology developed by Goldman Sachs. The specific method is for GS DAP to create a "mirror" token of the currency base share on the chain, and keep the ledger consistent through the BNY system. In this way, these on-chain tokenized shares can be used as collateral in the future or participate in real-time transactions, thereby increasing the liquidity and flexibility of the currency fund. The project created the first on-chain currency fund subscription model supported by fund managers in the U.S. market, with participants including BlackRock, Fidelity, Schroders and other large fund companies. Goldman Sachs executives believe that this solution can "unlock the potential of currency fund shares as collateral," marking a major step in the transition from traditional cash assets to digital assets.

The following is an overview of Goldman Sachs’ recent participation in tokenization projects and partners:

European Investment Bank Digital Bonds (2022-2023): Participate in the issuance of U.S. dollar and euro-denominated digital bonds, shortening settlement time.

GS DAP online (2023): Launch a digital asset platform based on Daml and apply it to large bond and fund issuances.

Tokenization Project (2024): Planning a tokenization infrastructure plan for the US fund market and European bond market.

GS DAP independence (November 2024): Plans to spin off GS DAP technology into an independent industry-level platform to jointly promote on-chain transactions with traders.

Money base tokenization (July 2025): Cooperate with BNY Mellon to launch an on-chain currency fund share tokenization plan.

Through the above projects, Goldman Sachs not only builds tokenized infrastructure at the technical level, but also helps customers gradually adapt to digital trading methods by cooperating with traditional financial institutions, strengthening its market positioning in the field of crypto assets.

3. Goldman Sachs’ specific involvement and comments on mainstream crypto assets

Goldman Sachs mainly focuses on derivatives tradingand compliant investment channelsin mainstream crypto assets. It also expresses its views through research reports. The following table compares Goldman Sachs’ strategies and positions on four types of assets: Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins and DeFi:

For example, in the field of stablecoins, the Goldman Sachs team pointed out in the "Stablecoin Summer" research report that the global stablecoin market value (currently about 270 billion US dollars) is expected to grow rapidly as compliance progresses. The report predicts that, taking USDC issued by Circle as an example, the market value will increase to US$77 billion in 2027 (average annual growth rate of 40%). Goldman Sachs emphasized that new U.S. regulations require that stablecoins must be backed by equivalent reserves such as Treasury bonds, which will increase the demand for U.S. dollar assets and contribute to the stability of the global U.S. dollar system. In addition, several institutions, including BlackRock, are tokenizing money market funds and settling them in stablecoins to achieve real-time liquidation and higher liquidity. These trends have also attracted the attention of Goldman Sachs analysts.

In terms of DeFi, a report from the Goldman Sachs Research Group believes that DeFi is superior to traditional finance in some aspects. The report pointed out that DeFi provides greater inclusiveness and innovation speed - through decentralized platforms, users can access financial services without traditional intermediaries. At the same time, the open source and transparent features of DeFi help reduce cross-border payment costs. However, the report also clearly points out that there are still risks such as security vulnerabilities, software defects and even fraud in the DeFi field. Goldman Sachs believes that although the market value of DeFi has expanded rapidly in the past few years, risks need to be reduced through technological upgrades and regulatory improvements before being included in institutional investment portfolios.

In general, Goldman Sachs’ participation strategy in mainstream crypto assets is: compliance and security first. By providing over-the-counter derivatives such as futures, Goldman Sachs provides clients with exposure to digital assets without directly holding currencies; at the same time, holding regulated crypto ETFs also shows its open attitude towards investment. In terms of market commentary, Goldman Sachs is optimistic about the long-term value of crypto assets and always emphasizes the importance of risk control and compliance. For example, CEO Solomon and other executives have repeatedly stated that Goldman Sachs will "spend a lot of energy" in researching areas such as tokenization, stable coins, and prediction markets, but they have not committed to launching their own encryption products in the near future and will still participate in this market with a cautious attitude.

4. Industry rumors and speculation

It is worth noting that there are also many speculations and rumors about Goldman Sachs’ future encryption strategy in the market. The following content is unofficial and is for reference only:

Cryptoasset Custody and Execution: CryptoSlate reported that Goldman Sachs’ head of digital assets, McDermott, has hinted that Goldman Sachs is interested in expanding services including trade execution and asset custody if regulations allow. Some analysts believe that Goldman Sachs may use its GS DAP platform to provide clients with on-chain custody and transaction execution, thereby becoming a liquidity provider in the crypto market. (Note: As of now, Goldman Sachs has not officially announced the launch of such services, this is market speculation).

Stablecoin plan: Although Goldman Sachs has no official news about issuing its own stablecoin, there is widespread speculation in the industry that large banks including Goldman Sachs are studying the launch of fiat-linked stablecoins. In a report in October 2025, Reuters mentioned that Goldman Sachs and nine other major international banks were jointly exploring the issuance of stable coins anchored by G7 currencies. This shows the interest of the banking industry in stablecoins, but Goldman Sachs did not disclose specific developments. Because the relevant projects are still in the early research stage, market rumors are still uncertain.

Encryption product mergers and acquisitions or cooperation: There are rumors that Goldman Sachs may enter the encryption field through acquisitions or strategic cooperation. For example, the media speculates that Goldman Sachs may acquire a crypto ETF management company to obtain a ready-made digital asset product line; there are also speculations that Goldman Sachs will cooperate with crypto banks or custodians, but there is currently no conclusive news to support these speculations.

The above content comes from various media reports and industry discussions. It only represents speculative trends and should not be regarded as Goldman Sachs' official attitude or plan. Until there is an official announcement from Goldman Sachs, this information is for reference only. Goldman Sachs has repeatedly stated in public that its encryption strategy will be advanced "step by step" and will pay close attention to the evolution of regulatory policies. Therefore, the real strategic trends will need to be subject to subsequent official news.