(Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc is allowing Wall Street investors to trade with a derivative tied to bitcoin prices, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.
Goldman, the fifth-largest U.S. bank, has opened up trading with non-deliverable forwards that eventually pay out in cash, the report said.
The bank will protect itself from the cryptocurrency’s volatility by buying and selling Bitcoin futures in block trades on CME Group using Cumberland DRW as its trading partner, according to the report.
Goldman declined to comment on the report.
The move comes after the Wall Street bank restarted its cryptocurrency trading desk earlier this year, with plans to begin dealing bitcoin futures and non-deliverable forwards for clients.
Bitcoin has been gaining mainstream acceptance in recent months. CNBC reported earlier this year that Morgan Stanley in March became the first big U.S. bank to offer its wealth management clients access to bitcoin funds.
JPMorgan Chase & Co is also preparing to let certain clients invest in an actively managed bitcoin fund for the first time, CoinDesk reported last month.
Bank of NY Mellon Corp in February formed a new unit to help clients hold, transfer and issue digital assets, while BlackRock Inc, the world’s largest asset manager, has also added bitcoin as an eligible investment to two funds.
(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)
