The CEO of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried met with the CEO of Goldman Sachs, David Solomon. The topic of conversation was the cooperation between the two entities.
Strong partner for FTX
Goldman Sachs is a global brand, based in the United States, specializing in investment banking, financial instruments and investment management. Its range of activities covers corporations, private and even governmental institutions. The firm also reaches out to individual clients. Goldman Sachs has a rich tradition as it has been operating in the public space since 1869.
FTX, on the other hand, is one of the fastest growing cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, currently ranked third in popularity. It is also headquartered in the United States, which from a regulatory perspective may make it easier to work with Goldman Sachs. The exchange was valued at $32 billion in January of this year.
A prelude to an IPO?
Sam Bankman-Fried and David Solomon met in the Caribbean. According to available information, their conversation concerned the future cooperation of the crypto exchange and the bank. Goldman Sachs would play an advisory role here for the platform, which reportedly plans to go out with an initial public offering (IPO). Solomon was also thought to offer Bankman-Fried’s support during talks with regulators. This is especially important given that FTX filed a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) request in March to allow direct clearing of customer derivatives trades. An informal hearing on the matter is scheduled for May 23.
The parties have also entered into discussions regarding possible joint bid-ask pricing of selected assets to facilitate trading and ensure market liquidity.
Similar cooperation has already taken place
Goldman Sachs has already become famous for its cooperation with cryptocurrency exchanges on the issue of IPOs. It concerned Coinbase, which debuted on the traditional trading floor on April 14, 2021. FTX’s exit with an IPO will strengthen the platform’s foundations and is entitled to cause institutional clients to look towards it with a very favorable eye.
At the time of this writing, Goldman Sachs has not commented on the matter.
