Saifedean Ammous wrote, \u201cThe Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking\u201d in 2018, ten years after the Bitcoin phenomenon began in November, 2008. An individual, or perhaps a group of individuals, used the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto to announce that they have produced a \u201cnew electronic cash system that\u2019s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party\u201d (vx). Bitcoin is a form of currency but without the involvement of banks or governments. It is digital cash that can be used like any other form of money. Bitcoin was not the first to attempt electronic currency, but much like Facebook was not the first social network to hit the internet, when Bitcoin arrived, it exploded in popularity.<\/p>\n
Ammous\u2019s book is organized into three sections and ten chapters. The first three chapters provide the reader with an interesting history lesson on the different forms currency has taken over the centuries. He covers salt, large stones, seashells, cattle, gold, silver, and finally arrives at government-backed paper money. It is an interesting history, albeit a well-documented history. Niall Ferguson\u2019s \u201cThe Ascent of Money\u201d provides a similar history lesson of money in human society. It always proves to be extremely helpful to understand the history of a subject; it enables us to better understand how we arrived in the present day. He correctly concludes, \u201cHistory shows that a sound monetary standard is a necessary prerequisite for human flourishing\u201d (p. 30).<\/p>\n
However, Ammous starts to show his true intent with this book in chapters four, five, and six when he bemoans going off the gold standard and governments begin to allow fiat currency run wild under the influence of Keynesian economic philosophy. His analysis runs too critical and too extreme, going so far as to say, \u201cKeynes had no appreciation of saving or capital accumulation and their essential role in economic growth\u201d (p. 92). Ammous\u2019 treatment of Keynesian economic thought is unfair and it signals the reader that he is an ardent supporter for the idea of cryptocurrency in general and Bitcoin in specific. Ammous starts to build his case in these chapters and he sounds less like an historian and more like a salesman prepping his customers for the big sales pitch. He hints at the direction of the rest of his book when he says, \u201cMore of people\u2019s money is being placed in government-supervised banks, making it vulnerable to confiscation\u201d (p. 69). The reader is now ready to listen to the advantages of Bitcoin, chapters eight thru ten.<\/p>\n
Ammous does an excellent job of describing what cryptocurrency is and since this movement is relatively new, the beginner will appreciate the explanation. The principal purpose of Bitcoin was to become sound currency that could be trusted, much like the gold standard was for centuries. I respect Ammous\u2019 concern for hard money, fiscal discipline, and the achievements that the gold provided the world\u2019s economies. But that original vison has changed and herein lies a lot of confusion for the general population. Bitcoin has become less of a currency and more of an asset, to be bought and sold like any investment. Buy low, sell high\u2014just like any other stock or commodity. Bitcoin has proved to be no different in this respect: and just like undisciplined speculation can happen from anything such as tech companies and tulip bulbs, Bitcoin has experienced this same buy-and-sell frenzy. As of today, the price for a single Bitcoin is $17,881.57 USD (Source: crypto.com, 11\/10\/2022).<\/p>\n
This reveals that cryptocurrency is not \u201cnew\u201d in several important ways. It is still just a monetary unit, a tool of value that parties agree upon to use in buying, selling, investing. However, the same dynamics of human greed are still applicable. There is an optimism among Bitcoin supporters that this new form of digital currency can bypass the old rules. There is a latent presupposition with Ammous that cryptocurrency is the last, best defense the masses have against big government and big business. He views central banks, governments, and multinational corporations in an Orwellian, dystopian manner and Bitcoin is what will keep such a bleak future from happening. He wants to eliminate these third-party institutions and let people buy and sell directly with each other. Cryptocurrency promises to be the next step in human-society evolution that achieves the further economic liberation of the individual.<\/p>\n
The economic principles of work, saving, disciplined investing are never going away\u2014and neither is human nature. Financial strategies outlined by the likes of Dave Ramsey and Warren Buffet will not be made null and void by Bitcoin. Ecclesiastes 1:9 still holds true, \u201cWhat has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, I do find the new forms of old ideas extremely interesting. We are living in a fascinating time period of human development, despite the pace of change being a little scary. The full extent of what Bitcoin can become is yet to be made clear. Cryptocurrency is unfolding before our very eyes much like the internet did in the nineties. It is best not to ignore this development; instead, cautiously watch and learn.<\/p>\n
Those who are on the cutting age of Bitcoin will do well to heed the lessons found in Kathryn Schulz\u2019s book, \u201cBeing Wrong.\u201d Even if Bitcoin fails, lessons will be learned as to why it failed and then a new, improved version will arise. Electronic currency is here to stay: \u201cNearly 75% of retailers plan to accept cryptocurrency payments within the next two years\u201d (cnbc.com\/2022\/07\/29, article by Cheyenne DeVon). Afterall, we learned from Admiral Kirk in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, that human beings do not use money in the twenty-fifth century. Bitcoin might one day be looked upon as the one small step for monetary man that led to the giant leap for monetary mankind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Saifedean Ammous wrote, \u201cThe Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking\u201d in 2018, ten years after the Bitcoin phenomenon began in November, 2008. An individual, or perhaps a group of individuals, used the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto to announce that they have produced a \u201cnew electronic cash system that\u2019s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":150,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2437],"class_list":["post-29476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ammous","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/150"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29476"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29478,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29476\/revisions\/29478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}