New book releases: The Bitcoin Standard

In the book, economist Saifedean Ammous walks readers through the history of the technologies of money, from primitive systems of trading limestones and seashells, to metals, coins, the gold standard, and modern government debt. He explores what gave these technologies their monetary role, how they lost it, what that teaches us about the desirable features of money, and how Bitcoin is designed to improve on these.

Explaining the economic, social, cultural, and political benefits of sound money over unsound money, Ammous discusses the potential role Bitcoin could play in the digital economy of the future. Rather than as a currency for criminals or a cheap mass consumer payment network, he argues that Bitcoin is emerging as a decentralized, politically neutral, free-market alternative to national central banks, with potentially enormous implications for individual freedom and prosperity.

The final chapter explores some of the most common questions surrounding Bitcoin: Is Bitcoin mining a waste of energy? Is Bitcoin for criminals? Who controls it, and can they change it if they please? How can it be killed? And what to make of all the thousands of knock-offs, and the many supposed applications of blockchain technology?