What the author sets out to do is give the history of blockchain technology in a way that a layman can understand in and then show that many of the promises made by the promoters of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are mostly empty. This book gives a very honest, informed and superbly documented view of what really is Bitcoin and what is its true story. In practice, any keyboard equipped with Ctrl, C, and V keys can fork the coin, defeating the purpose.

Currently, I mostly work in software security and do open-source work 👾on an independent contractor basis. The most interesting parts (which could have been elaborated on more) were the mental psychographies of bitcoin’s users.Proponents of Austrian economics include the fringe economics blog Zero Hedge, which has confidently predicted two hundred of the last two recessions. These two sites produced some of the first mainstream press covering Bitcoin for a general (but still reasonably tech-savvy) audience.

David provides one of the most layman-friendly explanations of what Bitcoin is, then explains in cogent detail why this involves breathtaking and fundamental design flaws such as consuming as much electricity to maintain as the entirety of Ireland.This contributes to a comfortable, well-paced read that manages to be engaging whilst still imparting a lot of information. Again, they’re hip, and happening, but don’t appear to actually solve any problems with real world contracts, which have always been interpretation (what does “anticipatory breach” mean? The next three chapters cover alternative cryptocurrencies, including Dogecoin and Ethereum, before looking in more depth at smart contracts and the growing use of blockchain as a separate technology divorced from cryptocurrencies. These facts would have rounded out this section, as well as providing support for a key thesis of the book - that Bitcoin has serious shortcomings, even when judged on its own criteria, such as the overriding importance of decentralized systems.