By
Elsa Saikkonen
Goldman Sachs is now considering its own digital currency after hiring a new digital asset global head, Matthew McDermott.
McDermott, who previously ran the multinational investment bank’s internal funding operations, confirmed its interest by stating:
“We are exploring the commercial viability of creating our own fiat digital token, but it’s early days as we continue to work through the potential use cases.”
McDermott’s confirmation comes after Goldman Sachs enlisted Oli Harris — who previously worked on JPMorgan’s blockchain (Quroum) and settlement coin (JPMCoin) — as the head of strategy.
Most notably, McDermott noted how distributed ledger technology would help make the repo market more cost-efficient. He also didn’t rule out the possibility of collaborating with rival JPMorgan and Facebook in the field of digital asset initiatives and claimed Goldman Sachs will expand its digital asset team in both Asia and Europe.
Goldman Sachs hasn’t exactly been consistent in its messaging in recent times. Not long ago, the American multinational banking giant’s consumer and investment management division stated, quite clearly, that Bitcoin is not an asset class.
Now, Goldman Sachs’ new digital asset global head is sharing beliefs that seemingly contradict that previous sentiment. He said in an interview:
In the next five to 10 years, you could see a financial system where all assets and liabilities are native to a blockchain, with all transactions natively happening on chain. So what you’re doing today in the physical world, you just do digitally, creating huge efficiencies. And that can be debt issuances, securitization, loan origination; essentially you’ll have a digital financial markets ecosystem, the options are pretty vast.
McDermott’s conviction is not unique. A global survey by Deloitte recently found that many business leaders are bullish on blockchain technology and its future impact on finance, banking and payments.
Image source: Jordan Merrick on Unsplash
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