Goldman Sachs internal memo unveils new cryptocurrency trading team

Goldman Sachs internal memo unveils new cryptocurrency trading team

A trader works at the Goldman Sachs stall on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Goldman Sachs has formally kicked off the cryptocurrency trading era on Wall Street.

The bank informed its markets personnel on Thursday that a newly created cryptocurrency trading desk had successfully traded two kinds of bitcoin-linked derivatives, according to an internal memo obtained exclusively by CNBC.

The crypto team exists within the firm's global currencies and emerging markets trading division, reporting to Goldman partner Rajesh Venkataramani, who authored the memo, and is part of the bank's overall digital assets effort led by Mathew McDermott.

Goldman Sachs, a dominant global investment bank for trading fixed income and equities, had been mulling the creation of a bitcoin trading desk since at least 2017. The firm tabled those plans initially and restarted the crypto trading team in March, Reuters reported earlier this year. The Thursday memo was the first time New York-based Goldman officially acknowledged its involvement in crytpocurrency trading.

Under CEO David Solomon, Goldman is seeking to broaden its market presence by "selectively onboarding" crypto trading institutions to expand offerings, the bank said. The firm also said it launched a new software platform this week that provides the latest cryptocurrency prices