Goldman Sachs plans to launch three tokenized funds this year: report

Goldman Sachs is reportedly making moves into crypto, with plans for the 150-year-old bank to launch three tokenization projects by the end of the year. Fortune was the first to publish the news, quoting Goldman's Digital Assets Global Head Mathew McDermott.

Details of the funds were scant, but reportedly, one will target the U.S. fund sector while another will focus on European debt markets. The firm is also said to be planning to create marketplaces for tokenized assets.

Rival firms like BlackRock, Franklin Templeton and Fidelity have all recently made splashes in the "real-world asset" tokenization space. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said tokenization is "the next generation" for markets a few months before the asset manager launched its blockchain-power treasury product, BUIDL, which recently surpassed $500 million in market value.

Franklin Templeton has separately launched a yield-paying, on-chain fund and related BENJI token on the Stellar and Polygon blockchains while Fidelity International tokenized shares in a money market fund.

Unlike many of its competitors, McDermott has said Goldman is primarily focused on using permissioned networks — rather than fully decentralized blockchains like Ethereum ETH +1.24% — due to regulatory concerns . The firm first began working with permissioned blockchain networks in 2021.

McDermott has long been an advocate for digital transformation, especially blockchains. The 19-year veteran of the Wall Street giant helped spin up its digital asset desk in 2021 and led efforts to introduce its cash-settled crypto derivatives trading products.

His views are in stark contrast to Goldman Sachs Wealth Management Chief Investment Officer Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, who said in an April Wall Street Journal interview that she has not seen client demand for crypto.

Goldman has already worked to issue bonds with the European Investment Bank and tokenize a sovereign green bond for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.