Mathew McDermott, head of digital assets at Goldman Sachs, one of the largest investment banks in the US and the world, said that the rises in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies were driven by small investor interest, not institutional purchases.

“ETFs have caused a psychological shift”

Speaking at the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) in London, Mathew McDermott claimed that contrary to what analysts and experts usually say, institutional investors are still not entering this industry:

“The recent rise in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies has been driven primarily by purchases by retail investors. But now we are starting to see institutions step in. We now see that the demand and appetite for Bitcoin is changing. At this point, the real rise in Bitcoin has not started yet. Last year was difficult but going into this year we saw a huge shift not only in terms of customer types but also volumes. Spot Bitcoin ETFs had a huge impact on this change. ETFs have caused a psychological shift.”

As it is known, many analysts stated that billions of dollars flowing into ETFs were through institutional company purchases, and that the small and crowded investor group was still not coming to Bitcoin. The Goldman Sachs manager differs from the general point of view in this sense.

“We are also exploring bankruptcy opportunities”

McDermott also said that Goldman Sachs is also exploring opportunities related to the bankruptcies seen in the crypto world in 2022, but did not elaborate. A number of well-known crypto companies, led by FTX and including Celsius, BlockFi and Voyager, went bankrupt during the price declines in 2022.

It is known that both traditional finance and the crypto world want to collect cheap assets by participating in the debt restructuring of these companies.

The Goldman Sachs executive also stated at the event that they expect more assets to be tokenised in the future and that they think this area will grow.