Goldman Sachs to Spin Out Digital Assets Platform as Industry-Owned Solution
Goldman Sachs announced today its plans to spin out GS DAP®, its proprietary digital assets technology platform, into an independent, industry-owned entity. The initiative, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to materialize within the next 12 to 18 months.
The Wall Street giant has simultaneously unveiled its first strategic partnership with Tradeweb Markets, signaling a broader vision to expand the platform’s commercial applications across the fixed income spectrum. This collaboration aims to enhance market connectivity and introduce new capabilities to the digital financial marketplace.
“We view permissioned distributed technologies as the next structural change to financial markets and are already demonstrating the meaningfulness of the technology’s perceived benefits,” said Mathew McDermott, Global Head of Digital Assets at Goldman Sachs. “Delivering a distributed technology solution to a wide cross-section of financial market participants has the potential to redefine market connectivity, infrastructure composability, and to deliver a new suite of commercial opportunities for the buy- and sell-side.”
The move to transition GS DAP® into an industry-owned platform addresses a crucial market need, as institutions have historically shown reluctance to adopt platforms controlled by competitors. By establishing an independent entity, Goldman Sachs aims to foster broader market participation and accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology in institutional trading.
Chris Bruner, Chief Product Officer at Tradeweb, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, stating, “Our goal is to create and utilize a solution that ushers in a new wave of access, liquidity, and interoperability for the digital financial markets, introducing new capabilities that advance market structure and connectivity.”
The platform, which leverages solutions developed by Digital Asset, has already demonstrated its capabilities through notable transactions, including a €100 million digital bond issuance for the European Investment Bank (EIB). Looking ahead, Goldman Sachs envisions expanding the platform’s use cases beyond fixed income to encompass tokenized funds and collateral management.
While spinning out GS DAP®, Goldman Sachs will maintain its Digital Assets business, which continues to see growing institutional interest. The bank has been among the largest buyers of Bitcoin ETFs in 2024 and plans to resume Bitcoin-backed lending operations, highlighting its ongoing commitment to digital asset markets.
The initiative comes at a time of surging institutional interest in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, driven by regulatory clarity around digital asset products and growing demand for tokenized real-world assets. As of November 14, tokenized US treasury debt commands approximately $2.4 billion in total value locked, according to RWA.xyz.
The establishment of an independent GS DAP® aligns with industry efforts to create more standardized and interoperable blockchain solutions, addressing the current fragmentation in banking infrastructure while promising enhanced efficiency and innovation in financial markets.
