In the fourth quarter of 2024, investment bank Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS ) invested over $2 billion in ETFs based on Bitcoin and Ethereum .

From October to December, the company acquired:

BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) and Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH) shares worth $454 million, investing $227 million in derivatives;

Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHE) shares worth $6.3 million;

iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) shares worth $1.28 billion;

Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) shares worth $288 million.
Thus, as of the end of last year, Goldman Sachs owned Ethereum ETF shares worth $476.5 million and Bitcoin ETF shares worth $2.4 billion. Obviously, the bank’s deals to buy fund shares had a positive impact on the Bitcoin and Ethereum rates, which increased by 41% and 26%, respectively, in the fourth quarter.

It is worth noting that cryptocurrency derivatives account for only 0.09% of assets under management by Goldman Sachs, whose value reaches $3.1 trillion. At the same time, judging by the rhetoric of the organization's leaders, the company does not plan to buy digital assets.
Most likely, Goldman Sachs will limit itself to investments in derivatives based on virtual currencies. However, the bank may expand the number of different cryptocurrency ETFs in its portfolio after the US authorities give the go-ahead for the issuance of exchange-traded funds based on, for example, XRP (XRP) and Solana (SOL).

"We don’t view cryptocurrency as an investment asset class. We don’t believe in cryptocurrency,” said Sharmeen. Mossavar-Rahmani, chief investment officer at Goldman Private Wealth Management.