MONEY, LOVE, AND BITCOIN

An in-depth look at the potentially widespread benefits of Bitcoin.

Debut author Rogers, a former financial planner, has some major problems with paper money. For one, currencies such as the United States dollar are not backed by anything substantial like precious metals; unlike years ago, when the U.S. had a gold standard, money now is issued purely on trust. This ushers in a host of problems: The government has the ability to manipulate the value of the dollar when they adjust interest rates, and, as the author explains, when governments create more currency “out of thin air, prices rise.” Enter into the global financial arena the “promise and potential of Bitcoin.” Per Rogers, part of the appeal of Bitcoin, a payment system using money that “can’t be made up out of thin air,” is that it reduces the risk of misuse by powerful figures—a government cannot simply make more Bitcoin tokens so that they can embark on massive, destructive projects like war. The book is more than just a work of advocacy for Bitcoin; it’s also about the relationships people have with money. The author proposes some intriguing ways in which Bitcoin, this “trustless, decentralized, and permissionless technology” could impact the world. Remove the power of groups like central banks to control money and, the argument goes, individuals can flourish in more free, productive ways. While Rogers reiterates the usual arguments against fiat currencies (like inflation), he also addresses impacts on the populace—for instance, he suggests that cryptocurrency could make absurdities like banks that are “too big to fail” obsolete. Portions of the text are dense and unwieldy: “Bitcoin offers the potential to free ourselves from the parasitic financial leeches draining the lifeblood from the economic body of humanity.” Ultimately, though, readers will come away with much to consider regarding how a technology like Bitcoin could be used to change the world for the better.

A thoughtful consideration of cryptocurrency that offers arguments both on social and economic grounds.