>"The decision to clear client trades will be made on a case-by-case basis, the person said." Could someone say what "clearing the trades" mean here?
It's where Goldman would net off trades between their own clients, effectively acting as an exchange for their clients using the prices on the official exchange. They say in the article they won't act as market-makers or hold their own positions. That means they won't perform their usual capacity for clients, where they act as middleman between the exchange and their own clients. ie they won't make a price for their clients to buy a bitcoin future the client wants to sell, and then turn around and sell the bitcoin to someone else the exchange later in the day. They won't do that. What the will do is buy the bitcoin future if they have another client that wants to buy it at the same time, because then they will never assume much risk.