Goldman Sachs Group withdraws from R3CEV blockchain alliance and will develop its own blockchain project

Goldman Sachs has chosen to leave the R3CEV blockchain consortium, of which the investment banking giant was one of the nine initial bank members, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

Goldman Sachs has left the R3CEV consortium but intends to continue developing its own blockchain projects, according to a spokesperson for the bank. (Goldman Sachs is an investor in blockchain startups Circle and Digital Asset Holdings (DAH).

In response, R3 has said that the departure of alliance members is to be expected over time.

An R3 spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal:

“It takes dedication and a lot of resources to develop technology like this, and different members of our team have different abilities, which naturally change over time.”

The startup is seeking funding from its member groups, which could add new pressure on partners and there are disagreements over how to divide up equity, while R3 is also collecting membership fees.

According to documents obtained by CoinDesk in October, the banks involved in the alliance are seeking a stake structure similar to past financial consortiums (stakes can be as low as 10%), while R3 is seeking a 40% stake in the company, including 10% for employees.

In addition, at least one member group of the alliance has renewed its membership, according to people familiar with the matter.