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Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein Hints At Bitcoin Revolution

Matthew Tompkins | Oct 04, 2017 | 12:00

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Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein’s recent tweet is on the fence when it comes to Bitcoin, but teases comparison of Bitcoin with paper money replacing gold.

Still thinking about #Bitcoin. No conclusion – not endorsing/rejecting. Know that folks also were skeptical when paper money displaced gold.

— Lloyd Blankfein (@lloydblankfein) October 3, 2017

There may be no definitive conclusion, but the tweet certainly suggests that the CEO can imagine a future where Bitcoin is at the core of a financial revolution on par with paper money replacing gold. Blankfein’s tweet comes hot on the heels of the IMF’s Christine Lagarde’s recent talk at the Bank of England where she spoke of Bitcoin’s still unrealized potential. Whether Blankfein’s tweet is testing the water for a rumored Goldman Sachs cryptocurrency trading platform is unclear but it demonstrates an honesty of thought and consideration for their clients and the wider public.

Don’t Dismiss Bitcoin

Both Lagarde and Blankfein neither endorse nor reject the digital currency, pointing out potential scalability flaws with the early form of Bitcoin’s technology. Unlike JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, however, they do remain interested and optimistic.

In her recent talk at the Bank of England, Christine Lagarde addressed the current challenges facing Bitcoin:

But many of these are technological challenges that could be addressed over time…  So I think it may not be wise to dismiss virtual currencies.

Goldman Sachs has also gone on record recently, encouraging Investors not ignore Bitcoin, saying;

Whether or not you believe in the merit of investing in cryptocurrencies (you know who you are), real dollars are at work here and warrant watching.

Continuing Mainstream Recognition

Abigail Johnson of Fidelity Investments recently made cryptocurrency headlines with her comments that the cryptocurrency mining experiments her investment company had been running have yielded a profit. Speaking earlier in the year, Johnson stated that Fidelity Investments was helping its customers invest in cryptocurrencies through integrating Coinbase wallets on their site, making them available to their clients.

Johnson stated:

I am still a believer – and it’s no accident that I’m one of the few standing before you today from a large financial services firm that hasn’t given up on digital currencies.

Could these investment companies be doing more to advise their clients in regards to cryptocurrency? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Fidelity Investments