David Solomon, CEO Goldman Sachs, speaking on CNBC's Squawk Box at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 22nd, 2026.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said Wednesday "it is very, very important that we codify a rule-based system" for how cryptocurrency and related financial instruments will operate" in the United States.
"As an American, I think it is very important that as we put legislation in place, we get it right for the long term," Solomon told CNBC's Sara Eisen during an interview in front of attendees at the World Liberty Forum at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., which was hosted by the Trump family's crypto venture World Liberty Financial.
"I believe that to operate markets safely and soundly, we need to have a rules-based system," said Solomon, whose firm is one of the world's premier traditional investment banks. "Our banking system is unique, and our banking system needs to coexist with this technological innovation."
"If there are people who think we are going to operate in this environment without rules, they are probably wrong, and they should move to El Salvador," he said.
El Salvador's government has purchased bitcoin since 2022. Because of the decline in bitcoin's price, the value of El Salvador's holdings of that cryptocurrency has fallen to about $500 million, down from a high of $800 million last year.
Solomon commented weeks after a Senate committee advanced a cryptocurrency market bill that would create a national regulatory structure for crypto.
That bill has stalled over a dispute about whether digital asset companies would be allowed to offer customers rewards, or payments on stablecoins that are held in those companies. Banks have opposed such rewards, which could compete with their interest payments on depositors' accounts.
Solomon said Wednesday that he is "super-interested in" crypto-related business.