Goldman Eyes Digital Coin For Payments

In a move that could mirror the playbook of JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer David Solomon said in an interview with a French newspaper that he is “absolutely’’ taking a look at cryptocurrencies. Solomon also noted the bank is in the process of “extensive research’’ when it comes to tokenization, Bloomberg reported.

Solomon said, according to reports, “Assume that all major financial institutions around the world are looking at the potential of tokenization, stable coins and frictionless payments.” At the same time, the report noted that Facebook recently unveiled its Libra digital payments coin. Solomon, according to the report, did not address whether the bank has had talks with the social media platform.

Even so, Solomon noted that it would be more probable that tech firms will team up with banks as opposed to directly challenging them. Solomon said, according to the report, “Of course, these companies have a lot of customers and will certainly try to monetize them. It seems to me, however, that they will try to seal partnerships with banks rather than become banks themselves.’’

The report comes after news surfaced in mid-February that JPMorgan Chase will be rolling out the first digital currency on offer from a major United States-based bank. The offering was to be known as JPM Coin, according to reports, and was to be geared toward the firm’s wholesale payments business. (That segment moves $6 trillion globally.)

It was also noted that the digital coin is designed to instantly settle payments between clients at the bank. When it comes to the details, each JPM Coin is redeemable for a U.S. dollar and will be issued when institutional clients deposit dollars with JPMorgan. Once the digital coins are used in transactions, they are destroyed and dollars are distributed to customers on the other side of the transaction.