Goldman Sachs Could Offer Hedge Funds And Bitcoin Miners A New Way To Boost Yields

Wall Street banking giant Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS reportedly plans on expanding its cryptocurrency product offerings to include over-the-counter (OTC) bilateral crypto options.

What Happened: Sources familiar with the matter revealed that the bank is in the early stages of discussions to include bilateral cryptocurrency options, according to a report from Bloomberg on Thursday.

These OTC products will allow trades to be customized so that Goldman’s institutional cryptocurrency clients — primarily hedge funds and Bitcoin BTC/USD miners – will have a way to hedge risks or boost yields.

Why It Matters: So far, the cryptocurrency derivatives market has been largely dominated by cryptocurrency-focused trading firms such as Genesis Global Trading and Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd BRPHF.

Goldman would be one of the first major players in traditional finance to diversify their cryptocurrency product offerings. The bank already offers its clients options and futures trading for Bitcoin and Ethereum ETH/USD.

As of March 9, Goldman had sold over $50 million worth of ETH derivatives to 28 customers.

Price Action: Bitcoin traded at $40,876 early Thursday, gaining 3.7% in the last 24 hours. Ethereum traded at $2,667, up 1.54% over the same period.

Goldman Sachs shares traded 0.45% lower during the after-hours session.