Bitcoin Daily: Goldman Sachs Eyes Using Bitcoin as Collateral for Institution Cash Loans; MercadoBitcoin.com Holding Company Snags $50M in Series B Funding

Goldman Sachs is currently undergoing an education on how to use bitcoin as collateral for cash loans, according to a Thursday (Dec. 2) report from Coindesk.

Goldman doesn’t plan to touch crypto spot markets; instead, the bank, and others like it, plan to rely more on synthetic crypto products like future.

The banks are trying to copy tri-party repo arrangements, which are methods of borrowing funds through selling securities with an agreement to repurchase them through a third-party agent, in order to follow that road of not actually touching bitcoin.

According to Coindesk, the opportunity could provide a roadmap for more integrated crypto prime brokerage services, going along with Wall Street’s recent about-face on the digital asset class.

There are other banks also following in the model of Silvergate and Signature, which are both crypto-friendly and announced bitcoin-backed cash loans earlier in 2021.

The U.S. doesn’t have a strict stance on accepting bitcoin as collateral — the practice saw somewhat of a green light during the previous administration, which saw Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) chief Brian Brooks saying bitcoin was the equivalent of cash, and banks could safe-keep it.

But the OCC still might regulate crypto, along with other organizations like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), depending on what is being proposed.

PYMNTS reports that Wall Street leaders like Goldman, along with J.P. Morgan and others, have been looking more at crypto despite panning it years ago.

See also: Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, Goldman and Others Ramp up Crypto Staffs

The leaders have been doing things like adding more to their crypto teams, and banks have added around 1,000 roles in that mode since 2018.

This comes as crypto becomes gradually more accepted in the mainstream and both clients and banks come around to the form. As such, banks have been adding things like research teams, trading desks and salary bumps to prepare for the future.

Meanwhile, Brazilian unicorn 2TM Group, the holding company for Latin American cryptocurrency exchange MercadoBitcoin.com, announced the second end of a $50.3 million Series B fundraising round on Thursday (Dec. 2).

The round also closed in July with a $200 million investment by SoftBank.

“We have grown to more than 3.2 million customers today, which is equivalent to 80% of individual accounts at the Brazilian Stock exchange,” said CEO Roberto Dagnoni, noting 2TM will speed up its international expansion in Latin America with the fresh capital, targeting Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Colombia.

Read more: MercadoBitcoin.com Holding Company Snags $50M in Series B Funding