Goldman Sachs forecasts dramatic surge in blockchain asset trading volumes by 2025

The Wall Street financial giant Goldman Sachs says the market is about to see a ‘significant uptick’ in the quantum trading on-chain within the next two years.

Goldman Sachs is anticipating a significant uptick in trading volumes of blockchain-based assets within the next few years as demand for distributed ledgers keeps surging.

In a recent interview with Reuters, Goldman Sachs’ global head of digital assets, Mathew McDermott, said the New York-headquarter bank sees a “huge appetite” for digital assets, adding that the trend has “grown significantly” since the beginning of 2023.

“Probably within the next one to two years you’ll see a big significant uptick in the quantum trading on-chain, probably three to five years to really see these marketplaces at scale.”

Mathew McDermott

However, McDermott adds that there is still a long way to go, noting that the blockchain market is still “very small” compared to other assets like bonds or gold. Nonetheless, McDermott admitted there’s “definitely been more interest” in crypto as investors “are getting more excited about the potential of a Bitcoin ETF [exchange-traded fund].” Yet, McDermott does not expect a sudden “immediate spike in liquidity and price,” instead acknowledging that a Bitcoin ETF approval could attract new wealthy investors to the market.

As crypto.news previously reported, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has until Jan. 15, 2024, to decide on BlackRock’s application, with a final deadline set for Mar. 15, 2024. Grayscale, Bitwise, VanEck, WisdomTree, Invesco Galaxy, Fidelity, and Hashdex are also among the other financial firms awaiting the SEC’s decision on their ETF applications.

Meanwhile, SEC chair Gary Gensler does not want to “pre-judge” the matter of Bitcoin spot ETFs, saying the crypto market is a “field that is rife with bad actors and rife with fraud and manipulation and money laundering.” Bloomberg’s analysts do not rule out the scenario in which the SEC would deny all the ETF applications, describing such a move as “amazingly sadistic.”