• Goldman Sachs becomes the first major U.S. bank to offer cash loans collateralized by Bitcoin.
• The financial service giant has announced several crypto services so far this year in 2022 in a show of confidence in the industry.

On Thursday, April 28, Wall Street banking giant Goldman Sachs announced the launch of its first bitcoin-backed loan offering. This is the first significant step by any major U.S. bank that could accelerate further acceptance of crypto.

Thus, Bitcoin owners can now secure cash loans from Goldman Sachs by putting their BTC as collateral. A Goldman spokeswoman told Bloomberg that the deal was interesting due to its structure and 24-hour risk management.

This move will further bridge the gap between the traditional financial world and the crypto sector. Besides, it will encourage more banking institutions to join the crypto bandwagon.

This year in 2022, Goldman Sachs has been making a major move in the crypto space. During the last month of March 2022, the banking giant traded its first over-the-counter (OTC) Bitcoin options partnering with Galaxy Digital. It was like pitching a direct competition to players already established in the crypto OTC market.

The banking giant is now willing to expand these services to other digital assets. As per a report earlier this month, Goldman Sachs will be offering crypto OTC options for Ether (ETH) ahead of the scheduled launch of Ethereum 2.0. The banking giant said that its clients see Ether as “more of an investable asset class”. In the latest report, Bloomberg notes:

Wall Street banks are ramping up their crypto offerings after a surge in price and popularity chipped away years of prior resistance. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. is expanding banking services for crypto clients, while BlackRock Inc. joined a $400 million funding round in stablecoin firm Circle this month. Boutique investment bank Cowen Inc. started a digital assets unit in March.

Wall Street and crypto

Financial players on Wall Street have been awaiting greater regulatory clarity before deciding to join the crypto space. At the same time, U.S. lawmakers have been initiating key measures in this regard.

Some of the crypto-related products already available in the market include investment banking, wealth management, and trading. As per the latest developments, Goldman Sachs is also willing to partner with crypto exchange FTX.

Under this partnership, Goldman shall be assisting FTX in dealing with regulatory matters. The focus here shall be more on dealing with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Last month, FTX submitted an application to the CFTC to offer leveraged crypto derivatives to its retail clients.

Read More: FTX and Goldman Sachs CEOs met to discuss partnership opportunities: Report

Another report from Bloomberg notes that Bitcoin-backed home loan offerings have spurted recently as the asset class matures. “New home loans are deepening the role of volatile digital assets in the real estate market,” it adds.