Goldman Sachs is entering the nascent market for derivatives on digital assets.  

In a statement released on March 21, Goldman sachs said it had traded a non-deliverable bitcoin option with Galaxy Digital, a crypto financial services company, which is a derivative tied to the price of Bitcoin and paid in cash.  Goldman sachs said in a statement that it was the first major US bank to trade cryptocurrencies over the counter.  

Galaxy Digital was founded by former Goldman Sachs partner Michael Novogratz.  Damien Vanderwilt, co-president and head of global markets, said the deal, which marks the first of its kind for a large US bank, was expected to "open the door for other banks to consider over-the-counter trading as a way to trade digital assets".  

Bitcoin was born in 2009, and big banks have been less active in the crypto spot market due to regulatory uncertainty.  

That seems to be changing.  Commenting on the Goldman deal, Ben McMillan, chief investment officer of IDX Digital Assets, said in an interview with CNBC that it is part of the continued mainstreaming of cryptocurrencies.  

According to foreign media reports, some banks, including JPMORGAN Chase and Morgan Stanley, are also exploring more crypto derivatives trading.  

At the same time, in some countries and regions, the development and regulation of cryptocurrency market has also been put on the research agenda.  

In early March, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order requiring government agencies to assess the benefits and risks of establishing a central bank digital dollar, as well as other cryptocurrency issues, marking the first step towards regulating the digital currency market.  

Australia is stepping up the development of a system to regulate digital assets, according to a government paper released on March 21.  On the same day, Malaysia's central bank and the Ministry of Communications also proposed to the government that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies be legally transferred as currencies.  

ConsenSys Global head of regulatory Affairs Bill Hugues was positive and optimistic about the future of the digital asset and cryptocurrency markets in an interview with National Business Daily.  ConsenSys is a blockchain technology company founded by Joseph Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum (ETH).  

"The cryptocurrency market lays the foundation for economic growth," Hugues said.  Efforts are being made to reduce risk and build useful platforms.  Encryption is a global phenomenon and cryptocurrencies are essentially a global market."  

"The Federal Reserve may issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the next few years, and when that time comes, the CBDC is likely to further strengthen the entire digital currency ecosystem," he told reporters, referring to the "digital dollar" initiative in the US.