The price of bitcoin continued to fall Monday as a bull run that peaked at the end of July came to an end. But a rumor that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. may be about to offer bitcoin support to institutional clients could see the market turn again.

In the perpetual roller coaster that is bitcoin’s price, the cryptocurrency bottomed out at $5,848.26 June 28, followed by an uptick July 24 that may have indicated the end of a relatively long bear run that started at the beginning of the year.

Bitcoin hit $8,397.63 July 25 and mostly managed to keep its head above $8,000 until the end of the month, when a new bear run kicked in, with the price dropping to $6,925.50 as of 10 p.m. EDT.

The reason for the price slide is not immediately clear. The Express noted that “the drop in price is a surprise to some investors who have seen a number of positive headlines bolster the crypto market,” with many analysts now fearing “that traction could be running out for bitcoin, with the digital coin predicted to rocket down below the hard bottom of $5,200.”

In a market analysis, Ethereum World News reported that both the volume of bitcoin trading as a portion of the overall cryptocurrency market has been dropping while at the same time holdings of the Tether USDT stablecoin have surged. That indicates that traders may be taking a wait-and-see position because of ongoing price turmoil.

What could be a boost for bitcoin going forward is the reemergence of news that Goldman Sachs is preparing to offer institutional support for cryptocurrencies. Goldman said in May that it planned to launch a bitcoin trading desk.

The new rumor, first reported by Bloomberg Monday, has the merchant bank also offering custody for crypto funds, a service where it would hold crypto securities on behalf of funds, “reducing risk for clients seeking to guard against the threat of losing their investments to rogue attacks.”

Goldman neither confirmed nor denied the report. It said only that “in response to client interest in various digital products we are exploring how best to serve them in this space,” and that “at this point, we have not reached a conclusion on the scope of our digital asset offering.”

In whatever form Goldman’s cryptocurrency service takes, the theory goes that having a huge merchant bank offer bitcoin services opens the market to new investors, particularly institutions, and therefore drives demand for cryptocurrencies, driving prices up.

Image: Pixabay