Banking giant Goldman Sachs applied for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, July 26. The application dubbed Goldman Sachs Innovate DeFi and Blockchain Equity ETF seeks to maximise investment results based on the performance of the Solactive DeFi and Blockchain index.
Per the announcement:
“The Goldman Sachs Innovate DeFi and Blockchain Equity ETF would track the Solactive Decentralized Finance and Blockchain Index. The Fund would invest at least 80% of its assets, exclusive of collateral held from securities lending, in depositary receipts, securities, and stocks of companies included in the index.”
The primary focus of the ETF will be securities of crypto-related companies.
An ETF is a type of security that tracks the overall price of an asset and enables investors to trade and purchase shares of it on traditional exchanges. Furthermore, it regroups various securities belonging to the same sector.
An investor is provided access to various assets all about the same category by holding an ETF, such as the banking industry, the tech industry, or the oil industry. ETFs, therefore, offer diversity to an investor’s portfolio and provide a mixture of investments such as stocks, commodities, and bonds.
Offering exposure to the booming DeFi sector
By filing for the ETF, Goldman Sachs offers more exposure to the booming decentralised finance (DeFi) industry, a significant force in the Ethereum network.
The leading global investment bank has been penetrating the crypto space. For instance, it started trading Bitcoin futures last month and tapped Galaxy Digital as the liquidity provider.
Therefore, this served as the first time Goldman Sachs used a digital asset company as a counterparty since the banking giant introduced its crypto desk in May.
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