The Cryptopians

Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze

By: Laura Shin

Narrated by: Laura Shin

Length: 15 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

The story of the idealists, technologists, and opportunists fighting to bring cryptocurrency to the masses.

In their short history, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have gone through booms, busts, and internecine wars, recently reaching a market valuation of more than $2 trillion. The central promise of crypto endures—vast fortunes made from decentralized networks not controlled by any single entity and not yet regulated by many governments.

The recent growth of crypto would have been all but impossible if not for a brilliant young man named Vitalik Buterin and his creation: Ethereum. In this book, Laura Shin takes listeners inside the founding of this novel cryptocurrency network, which enabled users to launch their own new coins, thus creating a new crypto fever. She introduces readers to larger-than-life characters like Buterin, the Web3 wunderkind; his short-lived CEO, Charles Hoskinson; and Joe Lubin, a former Goldman Sachs VP who became one of crypto’s most well-known billionaires. Sparks fly as these outsized personalities fight for their piece of a seemingly limitless new business opportunity.

This fascinating book shows the crypto market for what it really is: a deeply personal struggle to influence the coming revolution in money, culture, and power.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Laura Shin (P)2021 PublicAffairs

Pretty Good

Pretty good but material has been previously covered in other works. Would be much better if it weren't the 4th book I'd read about ETH.

Why no chapter titles?

Although it was hard to keep track of all the characters and threads, this book was still helpful for my purpose of learning the history of Ehereum and how it’s governance works (or does not work).

This is also the first audiobook read by the author that I did not find the narration distracting. (In fact, it was very enjoyable.)

I don’t understand why the chapters have no real titles though— it feels like lazy storytelling. Even if Shin had made a deliberate choice to name chapters based on dates, I wish she had explained this choice in the preface.

Movie script material

Laura is the best voice in CRYPTO. She is a pleasure to listen and absolutely well versed.

Human context behind Ethereum's Story

Premise: Talented kids without people skills stumble onto a technology worth a pile of cash, this is the story about what happend, who controls it, and who gets butt hurt.
The Twist: it plays out exactly like what you would expect.
Epilogue: ##Spoiler Warning## ETH survives.

Great book overall, I'd recommend it to the average person. As a person who peripherally follows this industry (and a believer), this book is a rare (and useful) perspective on the industry from a professional. Internet sources on crypto; blogs, influencers, new projects, are all slanted in predictable ways. In short, it's just a bunch of unprofessional people slinging whatever they are selling/holding. this is where Laura Shin is super useful, in that she tells the story of this amazing technology - methodically and professionally.

So the summary of the book: Ethereum was built by talented people without much real life world experience. I like how Laura emphasizes how the founding team, as they were trying to get ETH off the ground, absolutely LOVED watching Game of Thrones together. Unfortunately, they didn't realize the game of thrones being played around them in real time. So you get a bunch of these early 20's kids, talented builders, low social skills, who fall apart in predictable ways. Ego, prestige, manipulation from "finance people" all add up to give ETH a rocky start. Lots of players confusing being early/lucky with being a talent god.

Another element of this industry that speaks to Laura's research. Crypto is filled with the "fog of shame". They have their flashy winners, and the losers (like the ones who invests in the market top), fades back into the fog of shame in hopes that their mistakes will be forgotten by society. There's winners and losers in the ETH foundation, and it was refreshing that Laura was able to penetrate this fog and get some perspectives from all parties.

One thing I didn't like about the book was that it was difficult to follow all the names that are thrown out. There should be more character development for at least the main characters, and maybe last names should be used more often.

Bad story telling

Amazing story, bad story telling, and also some kind of bias in the way things are told from the author.

Excellent!

Thanks Laura for the accurate accounting of the development of Ethereum. If you had not done the research, no one else probably would have. Excellent listen!

Real stories about real people. So much deeper than technological fetishism.

I have no doubt that in the decades to come this story will be a movie. This book is a MUST READ. Laura Shin reveals the motivations and stories of the humans responsible for making potentially some of the most powerful and abstract technologies of our time. The book provides some answers for many of the most elusive questions around crypto - who are these people; where did they come from; what are their motives; what happens behind the scenes at the foundations, offices, conventions, and “the spaceship” (the Ethereum founders’ shared house)?

This is the most comprehensive, well-sourced, and compelling narrative I’ve found for better understanding the people building in the crypto space. If you listen to interviews with crypto’s main players, don’t try to read between the lines, just read Laura’s book.

Good book for those in the crypto community

Good way to learn about what happened behind the scenes and in the early days of Ethereum. Well researched ans well written.

Excellent research and in-depth information

The language is pretty vulgar throughout. Could have used a good thorough edit. Maybe in the second edition.

Crash course in crypto

Great book with a ton of details on the development of ETH and the various influences in the Web 3 space.