BitcoinBTC and crypto prices—including major coins ethereum and XRPXRP—have suddenly rocketed higher, soaring after a famed stock market picker made a huge bitcoin price prediction.
The bitcoin price has topped $70,000 per bitcoin, coming back to within touching distance of its all-time high of almost $74,0000. EthereumETH, XRP and other top cryptocurrencies have also powered higher, adding $300 billion to the combined crypto market over the last week, despite Elon Musk’s dramatic return to crypto’s front lines falling flat.
Now, as BlackRock readies the second stage of its “$5 trillion by 2030” plan, a top Goldman Sachs executive revealed the banking giant’s hedge fund clients are gearing up to flood into the crypto market.
Sign up now for the free CryptoCodex—A daily five-minute newsletter for traders, investors and the crypto-curious that will get you up to date and keep you ahead of the bitcoin and crypto market bull run
Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs is seeing an uptick in its hedge fund clients that are eyeing the latest crypto market gains and feeling pangs on fomo (fear of missing out) in the aftermath of the approval of a fleet of U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
“The recent ETF approval has triggered a resurgence of interest and activities from our clients,” Max Minton, Goldman’s Asia Pacific head of digital assets, told Bloomberg. “Many of our largest clients are active or exploring getting active in the space.”
The majority of interest from the bank’s clients is directed at bitcoin, according to Minton, who said that could change if ethereum wins a spot ETF of its own. However, reports out last week suggested ethereum’s current May deadline for spot ETF approval is looking increasingly unlikely due to a lack of engagement from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Goldman Sachs launched a crypto trading desk in 2021 and currently provides cash-settled bitcoin option and ethereum option trading.
Clients of BlackRockBLK, the world’s largest asset manager that launched what’s become the largest of the new U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs in January, have only “a little bit” interest in ethereum compared to bitcoin, the company’s head of digital assets Robert Mitchnick said during a New York conference last week it was reported by Coindesk.
Sign up now for CryptoCodex—A free, daily newsletter for the crypto-curious
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs’ head of digital assets Mathew McDermott last week told a London crypto conference that institutional investors are showing interest in the crypto market.
“The price action … has still been driven by retails primarily,” McDermott said in comments reported by Reuters. “But it’s the institutions that we’ve started to see come in. You really see now the appetite is transformed.”
However, flows into the 11 new Wall Street spot bitcoin ETFs went into reverse last week, losing a combined $850 million—a sign for some that the recent pump could be coming to a close.
“People have looked at how much the price of bitcoin has fallen and they’ve decided to hold off, nobody wants to catch a falling knife,” James Butterfill, head of research at crypto investment group CoinShares, told the Financial Times.
Follow me on Twitter.
