This week’s Crypto Biz explores Arbitrum’s latest proposal, Ripple’s two-year battle with the SEC and a large corporations’ coalition to build blockchain solutions for institutional investors.
Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, others partner in new blockchain network
The Canton blockchain network for financial institutions is being launched by Digital Asset and a group of firms, including Microsoft, Goldman and Deloitte.
32% of home offices invest in digital assets: Goldman Sachs
While the interest in crypto investments was rising last year among home offices, 2023 saw a massive decline in investors’ certainty about the digital assets market.
Digital Asset Will Start Global Blockchain Network With Deloitte, Goldman Sachs and Others
Financial technology company Digital Asset has announced it will be launching a privacy-enabled interoperable blockchain network designed for institutional assets to provide a decentralized infrastructure, it announced Tuesday.
Bitcoin market cap grows 60% in 2023 as top Wall Street banks lose $100B
Bitcoin has decoupled from stocks and rising ten years after the Cyprus banking crisis coincided with a BTC price boom.
Goldman Sachs still open to crypto hires amid massive 3,200 staff cut
Goldman Sachs digital asset lead Mathew McDermott said the bank remains “hugely positive” on exploring blockchain applications.
Goldman Sachs Says It’s Open to Adding Staff to Digital Assets Team: Bloomberg
The investment bank’s private tokenization platform was used by Hong Kong to sell digital bonds last week.
Why Goldman Sachs Expects This Asset Class To Outperform Bitcoin
A research note from Goldman Sachs published on Monday has painted a bull case for gold over the price of bitcoin. The bank’s research note comes at a time when the entirety of the crypto market is facing adversity and the price of bitcoin is down more than 70% from its all-time high price at current levels. According to Goldman Sachs, gold actually presents the opportunity that investors seem to be looking for in bitcoin.
Gold Is A Better Inflation Hedge
In the research note, Goldman Sachs says it expects gold to perform better than bitcoin in the long run given its already established use cases. For one, gold remains a hedge against inflation and dollar debasement, as well as being a better portfolio diversifier compared to bitcoin.
Additionally, Goldman Sachs explained that gold is not as affected by tighter liquidity as BTC. Since there is more demand for gold, it tends to do better in situations such as these whereas digital assets such as bitcoin tend to succumb to such liquidity crunches.
The research note also compares bitcoin to a “risk-on high-growth tech company stock.” As well as the digital asset’s value is based on future use cases instead of established use cases like in the case of gold. It explained that since bitcoin is “a solution looking for a problem,” it is more prone to volatility and is a more speculative asset compared to gold.
Can Bitcoin Close The Gap?
Bitcoin is often referred to as the ‘digital gold’ due to its performance over the years. It has been utilized as an inflation hedge by many at various stages, but the bull and bear cycles can see BTC fall short as a hedge during times such as these. Add in the collapse of major players in the space and the digital asset has taken massive hits in the past year.
Goldman Sachs points to the recent implosion of the FTX crypto exchange in bitcoin’s recent high volatility, noting such collapses as the cause of the decline. “Bitcoin’s volatility to the downside was also enhanced by systemic concerns as several large players filed for bankruptcy,” the research note said.
Given these, the investment bank believes that gold is set to outperform bitcoin in the long run. “Moreover, gold may benefit from structurally higher macro volatility and a need to diversify equity exposure,” it added.
What Goldman Sachs’ CEO misunderstands about private blockchains
Blockchains aren’t meant to provide big banks with another venue for imposing new fees on users.
Crypto Biz: Is Goldman Sachs the ultimate crypto contrarian?
Is the U.S. investment bank looking to buy up distressed crypto firms amid the bear market?
Goldman Sachs reportedly looking to buy crypto firms after FTX collapse
Goldman Sachs executive Mathew McDermott said that their firm is already doing its due diligence on some crypto firms.
Bitcoin Will Not Touch $100k Anytime Soon Says Economist
As the first and primary cryptocurrency to exist, Bitcoin has witnessed different reactions and predictions in the industry. Its advancement over the past years has been above the growth of conventional assets. However, the recent bearish trend in the crypto market this year created doubts about the future of the token.
Recently, the Chief Economic Adviser at Allianz, Mohamed El-Erian, disclosed his opinion on the potential future of BTC. According to him, the leading crypto asset will become a global reserve currency, but its price will not reach the $100,000 level.
Further, El-Erian thinks the crypto sector will scale through the prevailing crypto winter. He noted that the crypto industry would also advance to become an important sector in payment systems.
Will Bitcoin Reach Expected Price Range?
El-Erian was responding in an interview with CNBC, where he described Bitcoin. He pointed out that as an innovative technological project, BTC hit its peak when the price reached $70K in Nov 2021. El-Erian noted the contributory factors for the surge of BTC, such as investors’ massive enthusiasm, over-production, and over-consumption.
On issues from crypto regulators, El-Erian believes that Bitcoin and the major altcoins will overcome them. He stated that performance might not dwindle with the right regulations in place. But the possibility of BTC hitting $100K or gaining huge institutional adoption is still uncertain.
Also, the chief economist noted that the crypto winter and unfavorable macroeconomic conditions impacted BTC’s advancement. But thankfully, there’s a gradual reinforcement in the crypto ecosystem now.
By that, El-Erian urges investors to appreciate the relative stability of Bitcoin. Moreover, recent movements in the market indicate that the crypto market has already had its worst bearish trend, which is almost over.
El-Erian has been a BTC holder before now. The economist brought the asset at $3,000 per token during the crypto winter of 2018. However, he sold off his holding in 2020 when BTC rose to $19,000 per coin.
BTC Proponents’ Opinions
The price prediction of Bitcoin hitting $100,000 per token is quite a huge milestone. However, some proponents strongly believed in the move. So, they forecast when BTC may reach the level and not if it will.
Michael Saylor, a BTC maximalist, believes that Bitcoin will perform brightly in the future and move toward $1 million. According to him, the token is different from others since no other network can compare to its security level.
In October, the Senior Commodity Strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, Mike MaGlone, predicted BTC reaching $100K in 5 to 10 years.
Some predictions have also emerged from individuals outside the crypto industry. Zak Pendl, the co-founder of Global FX at Goldman Sachs, gave a similar forecast for the primary crypto asset.
However, at the time of writing, BTC price is trading at $20,297, indicating a drop of 0.72% over the past 24 hours.
3 striking similarities with past Bitcoin price bottoms — But there’s a catch
The fundamentals accompanying the previous Bitcoin bear markets are entirely different from 2022, however, putting the BTC price recovery at risk.
Goldman Sachs’ bearish macro outlook puts Bitcoin at risk of crashing to $12K
Bitcoin derivatives data also shows sentiment shifting in favor of a massive crash below $20,000, the current psychological support.
Bitcoin ‘bear flag’ breakdown targets $15K as US dollar hits 20-year high
BTC is losing its safe haven status to the dollar, with mutual funds increasing their cash holdings by $208 billion in the first half of 2022.
Celsius Network is bankrupt, so why is CEL price up 4,000% in two months?
Takeover rumors and an ongoing short squeeze help CEL price rally but is there enough momentum for more upside?
Celsius pays down 143M in DAI loans since July 1
The crypto lender’s liquidation price on its Bitcoin loan has dropped to less than $5,000, according to DeFi industry data.
Crypto Biz: Coinbase downgraded, 3AC deemed insolvent and Michael Saylor buys the dip
Coinbase, Three Arrows Capital and MicroStrategy headline the latest business news from the world of blockchain.
Goldman Sachs downgrades Coinbase stock to ‘sell’
The United States cryptocurrency exchange has seen its stock price plunge in lockstep with Bitcoin, Ether and the broader digital asset market.
Crypto Biz: Helicopter CBDC money rains on Shenzhen, May 26—June 1
China’s advanced CBDC strategy sees digital yuan airdropped to thousands of people. Meanwhile, Binance Labs raised $500 million for a new Web3 fund.
