Goldman Gives the Blockchain Revolution a Home: Aaron Brown

Most important advances in technology occur when someone combines a variety of innovations in different fields in a commercially successful way. Bitcoin is an exception, a revolutionary advance that people have spent the last 15 years cannibalizing for parts to use in other projects. It’s as if someone built the first automobile from scratch and then left it for others to pick apart: the engine, transmission and steering mechanism all separated and used in other devices.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. offers the latest example. The bank recently announced plans to spin out its digital-assets platform into a new company for ...