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Goldman Sachs Is Setting Up a Cryptocurrency Trading Desk

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141–150 of 487 posts

Re: Goldman Sachs Is Setting Up a Cryptocurrency Trading Desk

#141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If. I see no reason to consider that, though. You'd have to say that, not only the US dollar, but every paper currency is crashing, along with gold. That seems quite a stretch.

That is exactly what the cryptocrazies are stipulating. It's cryptocurrency vs fiat. Seen from the fiat perspective, it's an obvious bubble. But if you're on the cryptocurrency side, it's barely the start of a massive and inevitable shift.

Fiat currencies, OK. I could maybe see that. But also gold? And petroleum? And real estate? And every other asset class on the planet?

No. Crypto's a bubble. This isn't fiat currencies sliding.

Re: Goldman Sachs Is Setting Up a Cryptocurrency Trading Desk

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am now focused on a higher risk-reward trade off Yea, no kidding! The silver lining is that at 80, he won't have to live in penury for very long.

It makes sense from his perspective, yolo, plus it might be his son's inheritance anyway so what does the 80-year-old care?

Well I wouldn't be thrilled on losing my life-savings, no matter what age.

Re: Goldman Sachs Is Setting Up a Cryptocurrency Trading Desk

#143
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"They are just making markets" are you seriously implying GS and JPM are just making markets :)?

Given that prop trading has been severely curtailed at investment banks, yes.

Not just curtailed, they aren't allowed to participate in prop trading at all as per the dodd frank legislation.

Re: Goldman Sachs Is Setting Up a Cryptocurrency Trading Desk

#144
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They may be able to partially manipulate the price, but they can't influence the currency or money supply. That's the beauty of crypto.

Doesn't matter one single bit. Goldman Sachs can't mine gold and control its physical supply, but they sure can play with its market price. So they can drive down the futures price and then hoard physical bullion on the cheap if they have a large institution or country wanting to accumulate gold reserves. Rinse, repeat. Finance 101.

Except clients don't need a third party to store their Bitcoin, unlike gold. Additionally, the blockchain is a public ledger -- anyone can audit it.

Re: Goldman Sachs Is Setting Up a Cryptocurrency Trading Desk

#145
post #87
post #23

My best guess is that the "store-of-value that can't be manipulated by banks" is effectively over. Big banks it seems will take over the trading volume of the big crypto coins and develop their own exchanges.

Right now, this store-of-value is being manipulated by whales and exchanges. Bitfinex has allowed illegal wash trading for months, there is evidence that points to insider trading on Coinbase, it's entirely possible that exchanges have been front-running their customers...

The market is more free and open with Bitcoin than our own stock markets. Bitfinex and Coinbase are just two of hundreds of exchanges. There's even localbitcoins, which allows you to trade directly with the other party. The ecosystem has come a very long ways and is the freest market in the world.

Re: Goldman Sachs Is Setting Up a Cryptocurrency Trading Desk

#146
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh good, I was worried that the BC bubble bursting wouldn’t have enough negative effects on the economy at large. (/s)

It won't. GSCO will price counter-party risk into the spread. If GSCO is serious its coders will write code to run against crypto-APIs at the speed unseen by the "My exchange run on Rails" crowd.

At least in this case you and I can have access to the same APIs that GSCO gets access too unlike the stock market.

Re: Goldman Sachs Is Setting Up a Cryptocurrency Trading Desk

#148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can transfer money to whoever you want. All you need todo is to write a check.

You're wrong on so many levels. Try writing a 100k check to someone and bank it, you'll understand that the world doesn't work like that.

I don't know about checks (we don't really use them here in Germany) but I see many 100k bank transfers and that's an absolutely routine thing to do, even across national borders (but you might need to file some anti-money-laundering and statistical documentation).

I would be really surprised if you couldn't transfer 100k (or 1M or 100M) anywhere. Sure, the recipient might need to pay taxes on that.

Re: Goldman Sachs Is Setting Up a Cryptocurrency Trading Desk

#149
post #29

Can someone explain this collective mania to me? This is all 100% pure speculative frenzy, right?

Most of us Bitcoiners are skeptical of modern monetary policy and want a risk-free store of value for our wealth. Today Bitcoin is very risky, however, we believe its fundamental properties will ultimately lead to a stable place to put our savings. Sure, it won't gain interest or dividends but it also won't be subject to inflation or central banker manipulation.

The above is purely my opinion and is frequently the subject of disagreement. It is, however, why I got into bitcoin.

Re: Goldman Sachs Is Setting Up a Cryptocurrency Trading Desk

#150
I am also thinking about building a cryptocurrency trading desk inside my company, any thoughts about how to recruit in this field? I am mainly finding it difficult to get the right personality traits since there are a lot of shady and non-professional people.
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