If anyone seriously thought GS would set up a seperate trading desk people are simply delusional. They are in already and have bought futures for their clients as well, so what's the point of waiting?
I know Morgan Stanley said they were waiting for more interest from clients before launching their own Bitcoin products, but as of a couple months ago they were loosely planning to offer futures-based swaps. In the meantime, they are clearing Bitcoin futures for clients, same as Goldman Sachs. I figure Goldman is in the same position. They want to see more interest and liquidity in the regulated markets.
It's there already.... It's called Poloniex.... It's probably not interesting enough to invest much time in it so there hasn't been done much since they completed the takeover. Poloniex is degraded from top tier to garbage exchange.
I think there's something to be said for the distinction between derivatives/securities and spot cryptocurrency. It's hard to imagine institutional clients lining up to trade at Poloniex. Some will go through the trouble of OTC brokers and figuring out storage or custody, but many won't bother until they can buy through their regular broker-dealers.
I think they had plans to turn Poloniex into a licensed broker-dealer, but I wonder if the SEC crackdown on security tokens put a damper on things.
