Goldman Sachs Warms Up to DeFi With Its New Digital Assets Framework

Goldman Sachs, MCSI, and Coin Metrics are working on Datonomy, a new data feed that will allow investors to monitor trends in the crypto and DeFi markets.

Multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs is working with other companies to create a digital assets framework, according to a press release published on Nov. 3. The framework shows that Goldman Sachs has a particular interest in DeFi, though it focuses on other trends as well.

Tracking the DeFi Markets

The bank is working with MSCI as well as Coin Metrics on the framework called Datonomy, “a taxonomy of digital assets.”

This is a crypto market classification system data service.

The system will help investors keep a tab on the market as well as all its trends and niches. The press release specifically highlights decentralized finance (DeFi) and smart contract platforms as two examples. Stéphane Mattatia of MSCI said of the framework’s utility,

“We firmly believe a consistent and standardized framework for the classification of digital assets is essential to support investors’ ability to evaluate the market…we are leveraging our general experience of what’s worked in equities classification systems to offer an efficient investment tool helping clients to understand digital asset trends, identify investment opportunities, and measure the exposure of their portfolios….”

Datonomy is accessible via a direct data subscription feed from the three entities. MSCI provides equity, fixed income, real estate indexes, and multi-asset portfolio analysis tools. Similarly, Coin Metrics is a crypto intelligence firm that provides various market and data solutions.

Goldman Sachs crypto volumes are growing

Goldman has also entered the crypto market, offering products like over-the-counter ether options and submitting a DeFi ETF application. The bank believes there is a future in bitcoin, much to the delight of the crypto community.

It also revealed recently that its crypto trading is showing good numbers. Andrei Kazantsev, head of the bank’s crypto trading, said the number of inbound client calls increased across the board. Kazantsev mentioned that hedge funds are no longer the only ones interested in crypto. He made the statement during the Crypto Assets conference in Frankfurt.

Bear market seemingly has little effect on institutional interest

More evidence of the increased institutional investment comes in the form of a Fidelity Investments survey. Fidelity released its fourth annual Fidelity Digital Assets Institutional Investor Digital Assets Study recently, and the results are clear.

The most interesting results of the survey are the fact that crypto hedge funds and VC funds accounted for 87% of investments. Digital asset ownership in Asia is 69%, followed by Europe at 67% and then the U.S. at 42%.

There have been several institutional moves in recent weeks. Japanese investment bank Nomura Holdings launched a new VC unit focused on crypto called Laser Venture Capital. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, billionaire Adrian Cheng’s C Ventures plans to raise $200 million for investment in the space.