CRYPTOCURRENCY INVESTING IN THE AGE OF DOLLAR CHAOS

A deep dive into the world of cryptocurrency from the point of view of a moderately successful coder and investor.

Debut author and longtime programmer Watson’s motivation is to help readers “understand the new world of digital money,” and he offers advice that draws on decades of professional coding experience, insurance-industry consultancy, and personal investments. The author outlines some finance history, including what’s commonly known as the Great Recession of 2008. He makes the point that cryptocurrency was born out of a reaction to banks’ predatory practices. This is not a book for absolute finance beginners, as the author does not provide definitions for terminology that might be unfamiliar to the layperson and assumes that readers will have more than a basic level of knowledge about relevant businesses, apps, and regulations. The book’s lack of a linear structure presents a greater hindrance; much of the information is tangential to the proposed central topic of cryptocurrency. For instance, he spends time characterizing large corporations, such as Apple, Alibaba, and Amazon.com, as becoming “corporate nation states” by virtue of their huge technological power, their loyal customers, and their global reach and influence. There’s also excessive repetition of ideas and even sentences duplicated verbatim. Most problematic, though, is the author’s digression into analysis of 20th-century SF writing, including fictional predictions that he says influenced his investment decisions; he spends a good deal of time on his “Rollerball” theory, which is directly inspired by the 1975 dystopian film of the same name. Many readers will be put off by the fact that all the advice and ideas in this book are purely his opinions and speculations; he employs no outside proofs, evidence, or expertise other than his own. However, readers are probably wise to heed Watson’s advice that “Cryptocurrency investing is an oxymoron. It is straight up gambling.”

A well-intentioned but poorly executed book for those seeking alternative opinions on investment and finance in the digital age.