In brief:
- Swissquote Bank offered a rebuke to Goldman Sachs' recent dismissal of Bitcoin.
- Head of Digital Assets, Chris Thomas, said the Goldman Sachs report was a disservice to its investors.
- Thomas said Goldman Sachs refuses to see the paradigm shift that Bitcoin is driving.
The Head of Digital Assets at Swissquote has fired back at Goldman Sachs over a presentation it made dismissing Bitcoin as an asset class.
Chris Thomas of Swissquote Bank published a point-by-point rebuttal of Goldman Sachs’ recent critique of Bitcoin, which Thomas decried as being, “very one-sided, unfair to the crypto community…and a disservice to the Goldman Sachs investor base.”
Leaked slides from a Goldman Sachs presentation on May 27 revealed the investment bank’s extremely skeptical stance on Bitcoin. As well as stating that cryptocurrency isn’t an asset class, the report claimed that Bitcoin offered very little in the way of investment rationale, and was ultimately too volatile to handle.
Goldman Sachs denies Bitcoin is an asset class
Today, Goldman Sachs, one of the world's largest investment banks, will be holding a conference with investors discussing the current state of the economy, inflation, and Bitcoin among other things. But despite the hype, it appears Goldman Sachs isn't likely to discuss Bitcoin favorably to its investors. The talk, titled "US Economic Outlook & Implications of Current Policies for Inflation, Gold and Bitcoin" will be hosted by Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, Chief Investment Officer of Goldman Sach's I...
Thomas rebuked Goldman Sachs’ opinion that Bitcoin, and cryptocurrency in general, did not constitute an asset class of its own, writing, “The world is witnessing an emerging asset class being formed… Bitcoin, and select others, are the driving force behind the paradigm shift which is happening, “ wrote Thomas.
“Goldman Sachs is ignoring the strong foundations of this emerging asset class based on cryptographic principles, and a world where many, if not all, assets will be tokenized, and trading them will be democratized,” he added.
The Goldman Sachs presentation emphasized Bitcoin’s extreme volatility, noting its 37% drop in value in just one day on March 12, 2020. Thomas pointed out that such volatility is not unique to cryptocurrencies, pointing out the severe crash in oil prices just one month later.
Hedge funds are buying Bitcoin despite Goldman Sachs' skepticism
Since Bitcoin’s block reward halving, digital asset manager Grayscale Investments has purchased more Bitcoin, on behalf of its institutional clients, than has been mined. The world’s largest digital assets manager continues to accelerate its rate of Bitcoin acquisition, regardless of what Goldman Sachs has to say about the matter. According to data supplied by independent researcher Kevin Rooke, Grayscale added 18,910 coins to its Bitcoin Trust in little over two weeks since the halving. Only 12...
“Absolutely, Bitcoin did fall 37%... And just one month later, oil markets plunged 333% in the space of 24 hours, nearly a 10x greater drop, touching a low of MINUS $40 per barrel at one point,” he wrote, adding, “In December 2019, Goldman Sachs predicted the average price of oil through 2020 would be $63 per barrel.”
Thomas told Decrypt he felt obliged to offer a rebuttal to Goldman Sachs’ misinformed, “insulting,” argument. He said Goldman Sachs’ view of cryptocurrency isn’t necessarily typical of all major financial institutions, who must balance their fear of disruption with a willingness to adapt.
“The larger banks are on one side scared of being disrupted, but on the other side, want to open themselves up to new revenue streams and investment opportunities,” Thomas told Decrypt, “JP Morgan changed their tune and onboarded two of the largest crypto companies in the last month.”
Not only JP Morgan, but Bloomberg Intelligence just released a report that named Bitcoin and gold as the "top candidates to advance" this year. It looks like Goldman Sachs is outnumbered.
