The Bitcoin Standard

The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking

By: Saifedean Ammous

Narrated by: James Fouhey

When a pseudonymous programmer introduced “a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party” to a small Online mailing list in 2008, very few paid attention. Ten years later, and against all odds, this upstart autonomous decentralized software offers an unstoppable and globally-accessible hard money alternative to modern central banks. The Bitcoin Standard analyzes the historical context to the rise of bitcoin, the economic properties that have allowed it to grow quickly, and its likely economic, political, and social implications.

While bitcoin is a new invention of the digital age, the problem it purports to solve is as old as human society itself: transferring value across time and space. Ammous takes the listener on an engaging journey through the history of technologies performing the functions of money, from primitive systems of trading limestones and seashells, to metals, coins, the gold standard, and modern government debt. Exploring what gave these technologies their monetary role, and how most lost it, provides the listener with a good idea of what makes for sound money, and sets the stage for an economic discussion of its consequences for individual and societal future-orientation, capital accumulation, trade, peace, culture, and art. Compellingly, Ammous shows that it is no coincidence that the loftiest achievements of humanity have come in societies enjoying the benefits of sound monetary regimes, nor is it coincidental that monetary collapse has usually accompanied the collapse of a civilization.

With this background in place, the book moves on to explain the operation of bitcoin in a functional and intuitive way. Bitcoin is a decentralized, distributed piece of software that converts electricity and processing power into indisputably accurate records, thus allowing its users to utilize the Internet to perform the traditional functions of money without having to rely on, or trust, any authorities or infrastructure in the physical world. Bitcoin is thus best understood as the first successfully implemented form of digital cash and digital hard money. With an automated and perfectly predictable monetary policy, and the ability to perform final settlement of large sums across the world in a matter of minutes, Bitcoin’s real competitive edge might just be as a store of value and network for final settlement of large payments - a digital form of gold with a built-in settlement infrastructure.

Ammous’ firm grasp of the technological possibilities as well as the historical realities of monetary evolution provides for a fascinating exploration of the ramifications of voluntary free market money. As it challenges the most sacred of government monopolies, bitcoin shifts the pendulum of sovereignty away from governments in favor of individuals, offering us the tantalizing possibility of a world where money is fully extricated from politics and unrestrained by borders.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2018 Saifedean Ammous (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Extremely Important Read

Bitcoin has and most certainly will continue to have major impacts on the world and our future, in terms of sound money, which impacts nearly everything in our lives. This book was a great introduction to the tech and it's implications. Also equally important was the history of money and the principles of Austrian Economics which is discussed. Excellent book.

Great content but heavily biased

This book is a must-read for a cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast, but it is also very accessible for the casual reader. The author provides an excellent historical evaluation of "hard" versus "soft" money and makes a strong case about just how much of a change the Central Bank era was compared to the past. The author then moves to Bitcoin and does a great job summarizing the case for it and provides enough light technical discussion to keep the casual reader interested. The main knock of this book, in my opinion, is the author's (1) excessive bias towards Bitcoin (including only light disussion of it's risks) while blindly dismissing other crypto projects and (2) excessive pessimism towards blockchain technology use cases outside of Bitcoin. Nonetheless I highly recommend this book.

paradigm shift

I loved this book, highly recommended for anyone trying to understand the clown world economy that we live in and what the economy could be with a bitcoin standard.

informative and now I'm a believer

Bitcoin was a fringe topic, but after listening I have high hopes.
The narrator did a good job

best beek I ever listened to!

life changing! it is a must read for any one who cares about money! thanks safe.