U.S. banking giant Goldman Sachs has issued a request for information (RFI) to explore digital asset custody, Coin Desk reported citing a source inside the bank.

"When asked about timing, the Goldman source said the bank’s custody plans would be evident soon,” Coin Desk reported. Goldman Sachs is yet to comment on this topic.

Goldman’s digital asset custody RFI was circulated to at least one well-known crypto custody player toward the end of 2020.

According to The Block, an RFI on crypto custody was issued by JPMorgan in October 2020.

“Like JPMorgan, we have issued an RFI looking at digital custody. We are broadly exploring digital custody and deciding what the next step is,” Coin Desk reported citing the Goldman source, who asked not to be named.

Estimating a major shift in gold and crypto markets as digital currencies become hugely popular as an asset class, JP Morgan said in December that gold will suffer for years because of Bitcoin.

“The adoption of bitcoin by institutional investors has only begun, while for gold its adoption by institutional investors is very advanced,” JPMorgan strategists wrote in a note.

In early January, fueled by a volatile rally in Bitcoin, the total market value of cryptocurrencies surpassed $1 trillion for the first time in history.

If Goldman Sachs confirms its crypto plans, it will be part of an ongoing movement of adoption of digital currencies in US banking.

Last week, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), an independent bureau within the US Treasury Department, gave conditional approval to Anchorage Trust Company to become Anchorage Digital Bank, the first federally chartered crypto bank in the US.

(Reporting by Seban Scaria; editing by Daniel Luiz)

seban.scaria@refinitiv.com

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