Goldman Sachs to apply for DeFi and Blockchain Equity ETF

Goldman Sachs plans to develop an exchange-traded fund connected to the performance of companies working on blockchain and the digitisation of finance.

According to a document submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the fund “seeks to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Solactive Decentralized Finance and Blockchain Index”.

However, the banking giant didn’t explain what the index would be composed of, as there appears to be no such index named on Solactive’s list of active indices.

The filing goes on to say “the Index is designed to deliver exposure to companies that are aligned with two key themes, the implementation of Blockchain Technology and the Digitalization of Finance (the “Themes”)”.

Curiously, even though the term ‘DeFi’ traditionally refers to ‘Decentralised Finance’ Goldman stated in its filing that it referred to “Digitalization of Finance”. It wrote that DeFi was “defined as the digital transformation of traditional financial services, including the support and delivery of payments, transaction services, lending and insurance”.

“The eligible universe of stocks is comprised of common equity securities, including depositary receipts, of companies located across developed and emerging markets worldwide, listed and traded on major exchanges in certain developed markets, including: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States,” the filing added.

The fund plans to invest approximately 80% of its assets, exclusive of collateral held from securities lending, in securities, depositary receipts and stocks of companies included in the index.