Lloyd Blankfein, a former Goldman Sachs CEO who is now the firm’s senior chairman, says his view on cryptocurrency is evolving. “I look at the crypto, and it is happening,” he added.
Goldman Sachs Executive Lloyd Blankfein Says Crypto ‘Is Happening’
Lloyd Blankfein, a former Goldman Sachs CEO who has voiced skepticism about cryptocurrency in the past, said in an interview with CNBC this week that his view on crypto is “evolving.”
Blankfein served as Goldman Sachs’ chairman and chief executive officer from 2006 through September 2018, and remained chairman through December 2018. He is now senior chairman of the Goldman Sachs Group.
He was asked whether his view on cryptocurrency has changed given the current market condition and traditional banks, including Goldman Sachs, starting to offer crypto services, such as trading and custody.
The Goldman executive replied:
Look, my view of it is evolving … I can’t predict the future, but I think it’s a big thing to be able to predict the present, like, ‘What is happening?’ And I look at the crypto, and it is happening.
“As an intellectual matter, I can’t think differently about it,” Blankfein insisted. However, he clarified: “As a pragmatist and somebody who’s skeptical not only about the market but skeptical of my own views, I try to get on board and acknowledge that I don’t know everything. Strange things, things that I think are strange, actually happen.”
Commenting on the crypto market, the former Goldman Sachs CEO said: “It’s lost a lot of value, but at a point, it’s trillions of dollars of value contributing to it, and whole ecosystems are growing around it. And, of course, we have the benefits of instantaneous transfers and reduction of credit risk and all the benefits of blockchain.”
Blankfein concluded:
I may be skeptical, but I’m also pragmatic about it. And so guess what, I would certainly want to have an oar in that water.
In January last year, Blankfein warned about regulators coming after the crypto sector. “If I were a regulator, I would be kind of hyperventilating at the success of it at the moment and I’d be arming myself to deal with it,” he said.
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