Goldman’s Digital Assets Chief: Interest in Crypto Is Seeing a Resurgence

The crypto market is one of the best-performing markets in 2020. Year to date, the market capitalization of all digital assets is up by approximately 80%. Bitcoin alone is up 65%.

According to Goldman Sachs’ new head of digital assets, Mathew McDermott, the rally is materializing in a resurgence in institutional interest in crypto. He recently sat down with CNBC for an interview on the subject matter and about Goldman’s ambitions in the space.

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Interest in Crypto Is Spiking: Goldman Sachs Digital Asset Head

Speaking to CNBC in a recent interview, McDermott, formerly the head of the investment bank’s internal funding operations, revealed his thoughts on the cryptocurrency space.

On use cases for blockchain and related technologies in the next decade, he commented:

“In the next five to 10 years, you could see a financial system where all assets and liabilities are native to a blockchain, with all transactions natively happening on chain… So what you’re doing today in the physical world, you just do digitally, creating huge efficiencies. And that can be debt issuances, securitization, loan origination; essentially you’ll have a digital financial markets ecosystem, the options are pretty vast.”

On what is going on right now in the cryptocurrency space, McDermott said that his information indicates a “resurgence of interest in cryptocurrencies” from “some of our institutional clients.”

Not the Only One That Thinks So

McDermott isn’t the only individual that has perceived this uptick in interest in Bitcoin amongst institutions.

Bloomberg’s Mike McGlone on August 5th released his latest crypto outlook report. The senior Bloomberg analyst noted that with Grayscale still accumulating en-masse and BTC futures gaining steam, it is clear that adoption by institutions is taking place:

“Consistent record highs in CME-traded Bitcoin futures open interest represent accelerating maturation, and a propensity to increase in price, in our view. Though long and short, futures are a key part of the first-born crypto entering the mainstream, and greater adoption.”

There’s been an uptick in retail interest as well.

When Bitcoin surged last week, the asset briefly trended on China’s social media platforms like Weibo, according to some reports shared on Twitter. At the same time, the search term “Bitcoin” (or the hashtag) began to trend on Twitter in at least four countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

This spike in interest is further materializing in Google Trends data.

As reported by NewsBTC previously, search interest in the term “crypto” on Google is starting to move higher. The interest in the term just surpassed 2019 highs and is heading to levels not seen since early 2018.

Total Crypto Market Cap Versus Google Trends Search Queries For "Crypto" | Source: TradingView & Google Trends

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Goldman's Digital Assets Chief: Interest in Crypto Is Seeing a Resurgence