Goldman Sachs Is Betting on DeFi Infrastructure Firm Blockdaemon

Goldman Sachs has joined in on a sizable funding round to help blockchainblockchain firm Blockdaemon expand. It’s more evidence that the investment banking giant is warming up to cryptocurrency technology. 

The funding round raised $28 million from investors including venture capital firm Greenspring Associates, crypto lending platform BlockFi, boutique venture capital fund Warburg Serres, and Goldman Sachs, according to an announcement today. 

The involvement of Goldman Sachs in Blockdaemon’s funding is further evidence that the New York City-based firm has its eyes on the crypto world. 

“Blockchain is a key driver of innovation in the financial services industry and Blockdaemon is powering its infrastructure,” Oli Harris, North America head of digital assets at Goldman Sachs, said in a statement. 

“We are excited to join them as they continue to provide institutional-grade blockchain technology to all that want to leverage it.”

Blockdaemon works to help companies install and use blockchain applications. It is heavily involved in the decentralized finance (DeFi) world—a catch-all term for financial products that mostly run on Ethereum (and use Bitcoin, in some cases) to replace the need for banks. 

Goldman Sachs, which is ironically one of the world’s biggest banks, now apparently sees a future in bankless finance. The investment giant had previously shown interest in crypto in the run-up to the 2018 bear market, when the bank opened then abruptly shut down a crypto trading desk. Last May, the firm said that it did not consider Bitcoin to be an asset class. 

But earlier this year, the bank restarted its cryptocurrency trading desk and is keenly observing the Bitcoin market, according to the firm’s CEO David Solomon.

Goldman Sachs Keeping Close Eye on Bitcoin: CEO

Goldman Sachs continues to recognize the importance of Bitcoin. The bank’s CEO, David Solomon, today touched on the cryptocurrency—and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)—in an earnings call. “As activities in these areas [cryptocurrency, blockchain and the digitization of money] progress, there will be significant disruption and change in the way money moves around the world,” he said.  “There is also significant focus on cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, where the trajectory is less clear as...

The Blockdaemon investment isn’t a crypto first for the bank, either. Just last month, the bank led a $15 million funding round for cryptocurrency analytics firm Coin Metrics. 

The latest investment—which also drew participation from Uphold, Voyager Digital Ltd., Illuminate Financial, and Hard Yaka—will help Blockdaemon expand its global headcount and make acquisitions. 

According to a Bloomberg report today, Blockdaemon is helping companies like PayPal Holdings Inc., Robinhood Markets Inc., and E*Trade with their blockchain infrastructure.