Mary Rich, director of private wealth management at investment bank Goldman Sachs, said:CNBCThe company will launch its Bitcoin-related services in the second quarter of 2021.

Rich’s statement was as follows:

We are working closely with teams across the company to explore ways to offer thoughtful and appropriate access to the ecosystem for private wealth clients, and this is something we expect to deliver in the near term.

Goldman Sachs and Bitcoin:

Mary indicated that Goldman Sachs may launch a whole suite of investment tools in bitcoin in addition to other cryptocurrencies, which can be in the form of bitcoin or cryptocurrency derivatives.

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Although Mary did not reveal upcoming offering and service requirements, based on Goldman Sachs’ previous wealth management business, clients are typically required to invest at least $25 million.

Banks, including some of the biggest names on Wall Street, initially didn’t want anything to do with bitcoin in their early years, but are now slowly reconsidering their decision to offer cryptocurrency-related offerings.

The cryptocurrency industry has recently seen many individual and institutional investors adopt Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation compared to other traditional instruments such as gold.

As Bitcoin continues its journey towards mass adoption, traditional investors have consistently demanded that financial institutions should also offer crypto-related investments, while seeking to save themselves from the current global economic woes.

These demands have forced banks to delve into the cryptocurrency ecosystem to prevent the impending migration of their customers as well.

Mary was quoted as saying:

There is a large group of customers who feel that we are at the dawn of a new Internet in some way and are looking for ways to participate in this space.

While most banks such as Morgan Stanley and BNY Mellon have bowed to customer pressure and announced crypto-related offerings.

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We at Goldman Sachs also don’t plan to be left behind.

According to Mary Rich, Goldman Sachs may offer a bitcoin investment fund similar to Morgan Stanley’s.

The latest development comes on the heels of comments made by Goldman Sachs COO John Waldron about the bank’s exploration of ways to offer bitcoin.

Waldron said that while the bank may launch a private cryptocurrency offering, it sticks to regulated channels, such as the Bitcoin ETF.

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