Goldman Sachs' David Solomon says he owns 'very little' bitcoin

While Goldman Sachs has taken a cautious approach to digital assets, the firm’s leadership sees crypto as part of a longer-term shift in financial infrastructure, Solomon noted.

He dismissed the idea that traditional banks and crypto firms are locked in a zero-sum fight. “It’s one system, it’s our system,” he said. “We have to do it the right way … and there’s going to be disagreements and that’s OK.”

Solomon said the evolution of markets is being shaped by large-scale technology platforms, and tokenization will play a central role.

“The evolution of those platforms … there’s obvious impact,” he said. “Tokenization ... that I think is super important.”

While other banking giants such as JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley have pushed deeper into the digital asset space, Goldman Sachs' involvement has been limited so far. The main reason, according to Solomon, is regulation.

“Until 10 minutes ago, the regulatory structure was extremely prohibitive,” he jokingly said, but suggested that as regulators begin providing greater latitude for companies to get "more involved" in the sector, Goldman may take another look.

Read more: Goldman Sachs sees regulation driving next wave of institutional crypto adoption

'Got to get it right'

Solomon criticized the economic effects of overregulation.

“When you burden this system with excessive regulation, you start to extract capital,” he said. “That absolutely happened in the last five years.”

He emphasized getting the approach right. “It’s got to be done thoughtfully, and we’ve got to get it right.”

Solomon previously said that the banking giant is ramping up its research and internal discussions around crypto-adjacent technologies, including tokenization and prediction markets.

Read more: Goldman is 'spending a lot of time' on crypto, prediction markets efforts, CEO Solomon says