Goldman Sachs: "Interest in crypto has changed"

Bitcoin at a record high, the new BTC ETFs with record profits - and yet this is just the beginning. At least that's what Mathew McDermott, head of digital assets at Goldman Sachs, predicts. He gave an interview to Reuters.

"The price movement is still driven primarily by retail investors," McDermott says. "But it's the institutional investors who are getting in. You can really see the appetite has changed."

"Last year was difficult, but this year we have seen a big change, not only in terms of type of clients, but also in terms of volume," he continued. The BTC ETFs led to a "psychological turnaround."

The current rally mainly driven by retail investors? To the contrary, BlackRock has bought Bitcoin in record quantities since its admission in January. In total, the 10 ETF applicants have bought nearly five percent of the total amount in circulation. The price of Bitcoin also seems to correlate strongly with the ETFs' buying activity. Bitcoin is currently trading at USD 61,000 with a market capitalization of USD 1.2 trillion. In the past seven days, it has lost nearly five percent.

Bitcoin ETFs have been showing strong outflows for the past three days. However, the current phase of weakness also shows historical parallels to past cycles. We are currently preparing for the halving, a historic event for Bitcoin that occurs every four years. Before that, the price often fell, then rose by many percent.

Goldman Sachs has had a trading desk for crypto since 2021. It has also invested in several projects since then.