Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and Digital Money are Challenging the Global Economic Order

Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and Digital Money are Challenging the Global Economic Order

by Paul Vigna (Author), Michael J. Casey (Author)

Synopsis

The system that governs how money works, with its brokers and middlemen, has stayed roughly the same for centuries. Now there's an alternative, and it puts us on the cusp of a revolution that could reshape our world. At the heart of this lie cryptocurrencies, a technology with the transformative potential of the printing press or the internet. They bypass the elites and cut out the gatekeepers. Unlike traditional money they're peer-to-peer, they don't have a nationality, they're digital and democratic. They are also lawless. For the Afghani woman denied a bank account by a repressive society, or any of the world's 2.5 billion unbanked individuals, cryptocurrencies open new possibilities. What would a world without banks or credit cards or even national currencies look like for all of us? From Silicon Valley to the streets of Beijing, this is a book about a revolution in the making, a story of human invention, and a guide to the future.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 368
Publisher: Bodley Head
Published: 29 Jan 2015

ISBN 10: 1847923445
ISBN 13: 9781847923448
Book Overview: 1988 saw the birth of the internet. 2008 gave us bitcoin. Today, cybercurrencies are changing the world we live in.

Media Reviews
Admirably clear and judicious ... If the word 'blockchain' makes you want to call a plumber, or you think Satoshi is some kind of raw fish, you need to read Cryptocurrency today. If you're already a bit-convert, you'll still learn a lot -- Niall Ferguson, author of The Ascent of Money Invaluable ... a fascinating field guide to the phenomenon in which three of the most powerful forces shaping our world today meet - the reform of finance, technological innovation, and the rejection of traditional politics -- Felix Martin, author of Money: the Unauthorised Biography Fascinating... Vigna and Casey are cautious, though enthusiastic guides to this strange new world... they know how to dig beneath the surface and they also know how to write. The book is full of fascinating stories, from the origins of money... to the Silk Road bust... Somewhere in this world of blockchains and cryptocurrencies lies the seed of the next online revolution- one that brings radical decentralization, autonomous organisations, a cull of brokers and fixers, a new constraint on government and fiat currencies, and a supercharge to the sharing economy The Times Engaging, lucid, and thought-provoking ... I can think of no better guide to what the future holds -- Eswar Prasad, author of The Dollar Trap Not only demystifies and explains bitcoin, but shows where it fits into the cultural zeitgeist and where it's pointed, and what that may mean for our financial system -- John Mauldin, New York Times bestselling author
Author Bio
Paul Vigna (Author) Paul Vigna is a markets reporter for The Wall Street Journal, covering equities and the economy. He writes for the popular MoneyBeat blog, and is the anchor of the daily, live show of the same name. Before that post, he wrote and edited the Market Talk column for Dow Jones Newswires. Michael J. Casey (Author) Michael J. Casey is a senior columnist at The Wall Street Journal. Casey's work has appeared in publications as diverse as Foreign Policy, The Huffington Post, The Far Eastern Economic Review, The Financial Times, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. He is the author of The Unfair Trade: How Our Broken Financial System Destroys the Middle Class.