In January 2023, Goldman Sachs, a multinational investment bank, announced plans to cut around 3,200 staff as part of a cost-cutting exercise. However, despite this move, the bank remains open to hiring new talent in the cryptocurrency space.
Goldman Sachs has been actively exploring the crypto market over the past few years, investing in crypto-related companies and offering its clients exposure to cryptocurrencies through various services. As cryptocurrencies grow in popularity and mainstream acceptance, other major financial institutions will follow suit and ramp up their efforts.
Golden Sachs Open To Crypto Hires
Despite the recent staff cuts, Goldman Sachs’s commitment to the crypto market shows it is still keen to expand its presence. According to Mathew McDermott, Goldman Sachs’ global head of digital assets, the bank remains committed to building its crypto team and actively seeks to hire new talent.Â
McDermott also stated that the bank sees cryptocurrencies as an essential part of the future of finance and is dedicated to staying at the forefront of this rapidly evolving market.
He revealed this information to Bloomberg in Hong Kong last week, citing that there has been a notable increase in the digital assets team. He noted that as of 2020, the team had only four members but has grown to a 70-member capacity.
This news comes amid the positive expectations of confident crypto analysts. Some believe that crypto firms’ adoption of digital currencies will significantly increase in 2023. Another anticipation in the crypto space is the popularity of decentralized finance (DeFi), intending to be a substitute for traditional financial institutions.Â
Golden Sachs Plans For More Crypto Exposure
Goldman Sachs’s plans to strengthen its crypto team surfaced during the staff cutdown of more than 3,000 employees in January 2023. This is the largest layoff from the company since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, which impacted the regular operation of specific organizations.
According to sources close to the case, the massive layoff in January has affected junior, senior, and middle-level executives committed to the company’s banking units and core trading.
In a 2023 presentation during the company’s Investor Day in New York, Golden Sachs CFO Denis Coleman mentioned that the company would postpone replacing its departing staff to plan and prioritize the following hiring process properly.
Before then, McDermott stated that the firm was focusing on purchasing digital currency companies with more sensible pricing following the fallout of the FTX crypto exchange. He also noted that it had already commenced the process and is following due diligence to buy some digital currency companies.
He added that although FTX had become a negative example in the crypto space, the industry will ultimately continue to perform to the benefit of the masses.
Featured image from Pexels, Chart from TradingView.com
