- Goldman Sachs executives and clients still have no faith in cryptocurrencies, according to the chief investment officer of its Wealth Management unit
- Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani maintains that the crypto sector is speculative and has no underlying value
- Despite the recent Bitcoin ETF approvals, Goldman Sachs clients remain uninterested, according to Mossavar-Rahmani
Goldman Sachs executives and clients are “not believers in crypto” according to the chief investment officer of its Wealth Management unit. Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani told the Wall Street Journal that despite the hype over the recent Bitcoin ETF approvals, her clients aren’t interested in the sector because they feel the assets themselves have no intrinsic value. Mossavar-Rahmani has maintained a negative stance towards cryptocurrencies for many years, and it seems the recent institutional buy-in hasn’t changed her perception, criticizing the sector for being pro-decentralization but having the major decisions made by “a few controlling people.”
Yes to Blockchain, No to Crypto
Mossavar-Rahmani first discussed cryptocurrencies and blockchain in March 2018, saying that while her team liked the “concept of blockchain” they weren’t sold on cryptocurrencies themselves:
Goldman Sachs investment chief: Bitcoin is definitely a bubble, Ethereum even more so pic.twitter.com/71JDyxBE0m
— Business Insider (@BusinessInsider) March 2, 2018
She echoed this three years later, saying, “Just because everybody piles into an idea [Bitcoin] and talks it up, doesn’t mean it’s a store of value,” noting that Bitcoin’s famous volatility meant that it “can’t be considered a medium of exchange.”
Democratization Myth
Mossavar-Rahmani’s opinion clearly hasn’t changed in the three years since, telling the Wall Street Journal that “We do not think it is an investment asset class,” despite competitors like BlackRock and Fidelity securing a Bitcoin ETF and going after an Ethereum ETF. When asked if she was bearish on cryptocurrencies, Mossavar-Rahmani replied, “If you cannot assign a value, then how can you be bullish or bearish?”
Mossavar-Rahmani also criticized how the crypto world handles one of its core precepts, decentralization, claiming that crypto enthusiasts “all proclaim democratization of finance, yet the main decisions end up being driven by a few controlling people.”
