Description

In the space of a few years, Bitcoin has gone from an idea ignored or maligned by almost everyone to an asset with a market cap of more than $12 billion. Venture capital firms, Goldman Sachs, the New York Stock Exchange, and billionaires such as Richard Branson and Peter Thiel have invested more than $1 billion in companies built on this groundbreaking technology. Bill Gates has even declared it ‘better than currency’.

The pioneers of Bitcoin were twenty-first-century outlaws – cryptographers, hackers, Free Staters, ex-cons and drug dealers, teenage futurists and self-taught entrepreneurs – armed with a renegade ideology and a grudge against big government and big banks. Now those same institutions are threatening to co-opt or curtail the impact of digital currency. But the pioneers, some of whom have become millionaires themselves, aren’t going down without a fight. Sweeping and provocative, How Money Got Free reveals how this disruptive technology is shaping the debate around competing ideas of money and liberty, and what that means for our future.

Reviews

‘A tremendously entertaining story of the technology, ideology, and personalities behind Bitcoin’s rise. Highly recommended.’

Balaji Srinivasan, CEO of 21.co and board partner at Andreessen Horowitz

‘Thrilling…How Money Got Free transports readers to the meeting rooms, startup couches, conference halls, online discussion boards, and proverbial water coolers where the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry took shape.’

‘Eha pieces together the puzzle of Bitcoin’s history in an engaging and accessible narrative… A great choice for anyone interested in technology, finance, politics, or the currency they spend.’

The definitive early history of the cryptocurrency revolution… Everyone has a take, an opinion, but precious few can articulate it in any kind of compelling way. Mr. Eha indeed hangs around early business venture booms and busts just long enough to give Bitcoiners fantastic inside-baseball morsels while helping those new to the anarchic culture feel welcome. How Money Got Free is exactly where it needs to be, here and now. Perfect timing.’

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