Leading global investment bank Goldman Sachs [GS] has partnered with diversified asset management firm Galaxy Digital to offer its clients access to ether [ETH]. This is in accordance with regulatory documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] on 8th March.
Filings show that with an investment of at least $250,000, the fund has collected over $50 million from 28 clients. It’s not known exactly how much GS is responsible for as the investment bank was not involved when it first launched.
As stated in the amended Form D filing, “Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC will receive an introduction fee” for a number of clients it brings to the “Galaxy Institutional Ethereum Fund.” Sources revealed that the latter had issued that fund last March.
Galaxy Digital is not the first time Goldman Sachs has collaborated with. Previously in June, Galaxy agreed to pour liquidity to Goldman Sachs’ Bitcoin [BTC] futures offering. Besides that Galaxy also offers a bitcoin fund to Morgan Stanley [MS] clients in a similar arrangement, a review of the filings shows.
Apart from GS, an alternative investments platform called CAIS Capital LLC will receive “placement fees” for referring clients to the institutional fund, Tuesday’s SEC filing said. It’s separately involved in a different Galaxy-backed Ethereum fund whose filing also hit Tuesday.
The latest development has its roots back in mid-2021 when Mathew McDermott, head of digital assets at Goldman announced that the investment bank was working to offer options and futures trading in Ether.
Goldman Sachs hit with talent exodus
The bank recently grabbed headlines when its global co-head of operations Roger Bartlett, a 16-year veteran announced joining crypto exchange Coinbase to lead its financial operations, in a LinkedIn post, just weeks ago.
In May 2021, crypto exchange Coinbase hired Goldman’s former co-head of government affairs Faryar Shirzad as its new chief policy officer to help with lobbying efforts.
Similarly, Chris Perkins, a former Citigroup executive who had around 725 employees working under him, left last September to become the president of crypto investment firm Coinfund. As reported by Financial News, crypto has become a much sought-after career option for executives, especially at large investment banks.