Author: Nancy, PANews

Today, the entry of Wall Street giants into the crypto space is no longer a novelty. The presence of mainstream institutions in crypto sectors such as ETFs, RWA, and derivatives is becoming increasingly clear. The market's real concern has long since shifted from whether to enter the market to how to strategically position itself.

Goldman Sachs recently disclosed its $2.3 billion cryptocurrency allocation. Although this is still a "small position" in its overall asset portfolio and has been significantly reduced compared to before, its holding structure is quite significant. Despite the large difference in market capitalization, Goldman Sachs maintains a nearly equal exposure to BTC and ETH.

This detail may be more significant than the size of the holdings themselves.

Goldman Sachs casts a vote of confidence in ETH, positioning it on par with BTC.

Amidst continued pressure on Ethereum prices and a significant cooling of market sentiment, Goldman Sachs' latest disclosure of its holdings structure sends a signal that differs from market sentiment.

According to 13F filings, as of Q4 2025, Goldman Sachs indirectly held approximately $2.361 billion in crypto assets through ETFs.

Within its overall portfolio, this allocation is insignificant. During the same period, Goldman Sachs' overall investment portfolio reached a staggering $811.1 billion, with crypto asset exposure accounting for only about 0.3%. For traditional financial giants managing hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars, this proportion can only be considered a trial. In the eyes of mainstream players, crypto remains an alternative asset, not a core holding. A small percentage of participation satisfies client needs, maintains market participation, and allows for strict risk control in a volatile environment.

What truly deserves attention is not the size of the portfolio, but rather its structure and direction.

In the fourth quarter of last year, the crypto market experienced a general correction, and spot ETFs also saw significant net outflows. Goldman Sachs followed suit, reducing its holdings in Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs by 39.4% and 27.2% respectively quarter-on-quarter. At the same time, it opened new positions in XRP and Solana ETFs during the quarter, beginning a small foray into second-tier assets.

As of the end of the quarter, Goldman Sachs held approximately 21.2 million shares of the Bitcoin ETF, with a market value of approximately $1.06 billion; approximately 40.7 million shares of the Ethereum ETF, with a market value of approximately $1 billion; and approximately $152 million in XRP ETF and $109 million in Solana ETF.

In other words, nearly 90% of crypto exposure remains concentrated in the two core assets, BTC and ETH. Compared to some aggressive asset management firms or crypto-native funds, Goldman Sachs' strategy is clearly more conservative, with liquidity, compliance, and institutional acceptance remaining its primary allocation priorities.

But what is even more significant is the almost equal weighting of BTC and ETH.

Currently, Bitcoin's market capitalization is approximately 5.7 times that of Ethereum, yet Goldman Sachs has not weighted its allocation by market capitalization, instead placing ETH on a near-equal footing with BTC. This implies that Ethereum has been elevated to the second strategic tier of crypto assets within its asset portfolio. Furthermore, during the Q4 2025 reduction, the ETH position saw a 12% smaller reduction than the BTC position. To some extent, this represents an overweighting vote of confidence.

This preference is not a one-off thing.

Over the past few years, Goldman Sachs has been continuously expanding its business in areas such as asset tokenization, derivatives structuring infrastructure, and OTC trading, most of which are highly related to the Ethereum ecosystem.

In fact, several years ago, Goldman Sachs' research department publicly predicted that ETH's market value might surpass BTC in the next few years, based on its network effect and ecosystem application advantages as a native smart contract platform.

This assessment remains valid. In its Global Macro Research report last year, Goldman Sachs reiterated that, based on factors such as real-world use, user base, and the speed of technological iteration, Ethereum has the potential to become the core carrier of mainstream crypto assets.

Despite the recent divergence between Ethereum's price and fundamentals, Goldman Sachs maintains a relatively positive outlook. They point out that Ethereum's on-chain activity paints a different picture, with daily new addresses reaching a record high of 427,000 in January, far exceeding the daily average of 162,000 addresses during the DeFi summer of 2020. Simultaneously, the number of daily active addresses reached 1.2 million, also a record high.

Perhaps, in the asset logic of Wall Street institutions, Bitcoin has become a macro hedging tool, while Ethereum carries the structural narrative of on-chain finance and application ecosystem. The two are different dimensions of allocation logic, the former leaning towards value storage, and the latter betting on infrastructure and network effects.

Goldman Sachs' turnaround, Wall Street's hesitation and entry

Goldman Sachs is also a "latecomer" to the crypto space.

If we look at the longer timeline, this typical traditional financial institution did not take an aggressive approach to entering the market; it adopted a "compliance-first, gradual trial" strategy.

Back in 2015, Goldman Sachs filed a patent application for a securities settlement system based on SETLcoin, attempting to explore the use of blockchain-like technology to optimize the clearing process. At that time, Bitcoin had not yet entered the mainstream, and this was more of a technological interest than an asset-level recognition.

In 2017, as Bitcoin prices soared to all-time highs, Goldman Sachs planned to set up a crypto trading desk to offer Bitcoin-related services. In 2018, it hired former crypto traders to prepare a Bitcoin trading platform. At that time, Goldman Sachs had already begun to directly engage with this emerging market.

But the real shift in attitude came in 2020. That year, Goldman Sachs stated explicitly in a client conference call that Bitcoin couldn't even be considered an asset class, as it neither generates cash flow nor effectively hedges against inflation. This public bearish stance sparked considerable controversy in the market.

Goldman Sachs began including Bitcoin in its weekly asset class reports in 2021.

A year later, Goldman Sachs' stance softened rapidly. In 2021, amid rising demand from institutional clients, Goldman Sachs relaunched its cryptocurrency trading division, began trading Bitcoin-related derivatives, and partnered with Galaxy Digital to launch Bitcoin futures trading products. In 2022, Goldman Sachs completed its first crypto OTC transaction and expanded its digital asset team. By 2024, it had not only invested in multiple crypto companies but also officially entered the crypto spot ETF market.

True, comprehensive acceptance has emerged in the last two years.

In March 2025, Goldman Sachs mentioned cryptocurrencies for the first time in its annual shareholder letter, acknowledging increased competition in the industry and predicting that clearer regulations would drive a new wave of institutional adoption. The letter also noted that tokenization, DeFi, and stablecoins would see growth driven by new regulations. More recently, its CEO, David Solomon, publicly confirmed that the company is increasing its research and investment in tokenization, stablecoins, and prediction markets.

This kind of transformation is not uncommon among traditional old money.

For example, in 2025, Anthony Scaramucci, founder of Skybridge Capital, admitted that although he had been exposed to Bitcoin since 2012, it took him a full eight years to make his first Bitcoin investment because he initially didn't understand it and was full of skepticism. It wasn't until he truly studied blockchain and Bitcoin mechanisms that he realized it was a "great technological breakthrough." He even stated that with "doing some homework," 90% of people would be inclined towards Bitcoin.

Skybridge Capital now holds a significant amount of Bitcoin and invests approximately 40% of its client funds in digital assets. Amid the recent bear market, Scaramucci revealed that the firm has been gradually building positions in Bitcoin at $84,000, $63,000, and the current range, describing buying Bitcoin in a downtrend as "like catching a falling knife," but remaining firmly bullish in the long term.

These elite Wall Street investors always prioritize risk in their decision-making, and they typically only choose to allocate assets on a large scale when the risk is controllable.

Moreover, the decision-making cycle of institutions also determines that the actual entry of funds is a long-distance race.

According to a recent interview with Bitwise's Chief Investment Officer, Matt Hougan, the next wave of potential buyers remains financial advisors, large brokerages like Morgan Stanley, family offices, insurance companies, and sovereign nations. Bitwise's average client goes through eight meetings before allocating assets. "We typically meet once a quarter," so "eight meetings" means a decision-making cycle of up to two years. Morgan Stanley didn't approve a Bitcoin ETF until the fourth quarter of 2025; their "eight-meeting alarm" has only just begun, and real inflows may not materialize until 2027. This is similar to the launch of gold ETFs in 2004, where inflows increased year by year, taking a full eight years to reach the first peak. Most professionally managed funds do not currently hold Bitcoin.

The transition of crypto assets from fringe to mainstream assets is a slow and tortuous process. When former bears begin to hold their positions compliantly, and skeptics become long-term investors, the real change in the crypto market may not lie in price movements, but in the upgrading of the participant structure.

Glassnode: The current market structure exhibits typical characteristics of a long-term bear market.

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