Former Goldman Sachs CEO Makes U-turn, Says Crypto is Happening

Lloyd Blankfein, former Goldman Sachs Chairman, and CEO said “cryptocurrency is happening,” as the asset class continues to grow in popularity and is attracting several trillions of dollars in investment. 

The former Goldman Sachs CEO made this known in a recent CNBC Squawk Box interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin. 

Recall that Blankfein was among the early crypto skeptics who once doubted Bitcoin’s success, saying the cryptocurrency is “like a bubble,” which makes him uncomfortable around it. 

In a sudden twist, Blankfein acknowledged his views about the nascent asset class over the years have changed because of the rapid growth of the crypto economy. 

“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,” Blankfein stated in the interview. 

Crypto Market Growth Since Inception

The crypto market has grown as high as $3.1 trillion in November, following interest in digital currencies from retail and institutional investors. 

Aside from growing retail and institutional interests, the market saw an inflow of traditional financial companies that did not want to be left out of the crypto frenzy that has attracted trillions of dollars. 

Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, and PayPal, among others, are among the traditional financial institutions that have ventured into offering cryptocurrency services. 

Blankfein Still Confident Amid Market Plunge

The crypto market has been underperforming based on several reasons, including Russia’s intention last week to ban related activities in the nascent asset class and expectations of rising interest rates from the Federal Reserve. 

These events saw a significant amount of value wiped off the crypto market, especially over the weekend. 

Not perturbed by the amount of value crypto has lost in the past few days, Blankfein noted that you cannot ignore the success of the industry in the past few years, adding: 

“Of course, we have the benefits of instantaneous transfer and reduction of credit risk and all the benefits of blockchain.”