Goldman Sachs, the second-largest investment bank in the world, has acknowledged the prevalence of cryptocurrencies in its annual shareholder letter for the first time ever.

"The growth of electronic trading and the introduction of new products and technologies, including trading and distributed ledger technologies, such as cryptocurrencies, and AI technologies, has increased competition," said Goldman's 2024 letter.

Going back to 2017, mentions of "cryptocurrency" or "blockchain" were nowhere to be found in the firm's annual shareholder letters. The growth of Bitcoin, along with the open embrace of crypto by the Trump administration, has changed Wall Street's tune over the past year.

"We also compete on the basis of the types of financial products and client experiences that we and our competitors offer," Goldman's letter said. "In some circumstances, our competitors may offer financial products that we do not offer and that our clients may prefer, including cryptocurrencies and other digital assets that we cannot or may choose not to provide."

Goldman Sachs launched a crypto desk in 2021, along with a Digital Asset Platform in 2022. It was one of a few banks that tested the blockchain-based communication system Canton Network within the past three years, which showed growing momentum among traditional financial institutions to use cases for blockchain tech after a decade of experimentation.

In its letter, Goldman Sachs noted the risks inherent with newer technologies, noting that market volatility of financial products using distributed ledger technology may increase certain risks.

"[A]lthough the prevalence and scope of applications of distributed ledger technology, cryptocurrency and similar technologies is growing, the technology is nascent and may be vulnerable to cyber attacks or have other inherent weaknesses," the letter stated. It also warned that the company faces risks from facilitating client activities involving blockchain-based financial products, investing in related firms and accepting digital assets as collateral.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has previously said the underlying blockchain technology behind crypto is "super interesting," highlighting how progress can be made to remove friction from the financial system.

"I've always said I think it's a speculative investment," Solomon said of bitcoin last summer. "I don't see a real use case." When asked by CNBC if building something akin to a gold reserve for the world's largest cryptocurrency, Solomon said, "there very well could be a store of value case."

In December, Solomon said Goldman Sachs would "evaluate" getting into bitcoin and ether if the regulatory winds change in the U.S. The following month, he again called Bitcoin a "speculative asset" and bluntly said that he did not think Bitcoin was a threat to the U.S. dollar.

Goldman Sachs loaded up on the two largest spot Bitcoin ETFs in the final quarter of 2024. As of Dec. 31, Goldman owns $1.27 billion (or 24.07 million shares) of BlackRock’s IBIT, an 88% increase in the amount of shares Goldman owned in the prior quarter. Goldman also upped its holdings of Fidelity's FBTC, owning $288 million, or 3.5 million shares, a 105% increase from the previous period.

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