Goldman Sachs assesses Bitcoins

Goldman Sachs analysts see Bitcoin as an innovative payment technology while doubting that it will evolve into a true alternative currency, according to a research report released yesterday.

In the report, titled “All About Bitcoin,” the researchers write that they examined multiple views of the digital currency by people inside and outside of Goldman Sachs.

“So where does that leave us? With the conclusion that Bitcoin likely can’t work as a currency, but some sense that the ledger-based technology that underlies it could hold promise,” the report said.

Bitcoin emerged from source code written by an anonymous developer or group of developers using the name Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 and attracted a following motivated in part by the ability to escape the strictures of traditional currency, notably government control.

The report lends credibility to the virtual currency, said Michael Terpin, co-founder of BitAngels, a group of angel investors in Bitcoin start-ups.

“The tone overall is conservative and measured,” Terpin said of the report. “People will read it and draw their own conclusions. It’s nice they are paying attention to it, and don’t have a Bitcoin-is-evil view.”

Bloomberg