Digital Cash
The Unknown History of the Anarchists, Utopians, and Technologists Who Created Cryptocurrency
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Bitcoin may seem like a revolutionary form of digital cash, but it is merely the latest experiment in a long history of similar efforts dating back to the 1970s. The story of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology has remained largely untold until now. This exploration reveals how technological utopians and political radicals have crafted experimental money to realize their visions, whether for privacy, governmental disruption, or innovative abundance. The narrative of cryptocurrency pioneers takes us through diverse settings: from autonomous zones at sea to valuable dumps, from bank runs to idea coupons, and from San Francisco bars with time travelers to the security patterns on twenty-dollar bills. The journey also delves into the hard questions these innovators confronted: How do we learn to trust and utilize different forms of money? What attributes confer value to digital objects? How does currency establish its reality? What would it take for a digital equivalent to cash to exist—one that is exchangeable but not copyable, created but not forged, and reveals nothing about its users? Rich with fascinating characters and stories, this account offers an engaging look at the unusual origins and groundbreaking technologies that fuel today’s cryptocurrency surge.
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Digital Cash, Finn Brunton
- Language
- Released
- 2019
- Binding
- (Hardcover)
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- Title
- Digital Cash
- Subtitle
- The Unknown History of the Anarchists, Utopians, and Technologists Who Created Cryptocurrency
- Language
- English
- Authors
- Finn Brunton
- Publisher
- Princeton University Press
- Released
- 2019
- Format
- Hardcover
- Pages
- 272
- ISBN10
- 0691179492
- ISBN13
- 9780691179490
- Series
- Categories
- Tags
- Historical Themes, Business, Legal Topics, Politics, USA, Technology, Professional Literature, Finance, Cultural History, Engineering, Media and Media Communication, Popular Culture, Social History, Capitalism, Economic History, Bitcoin, Instagram, Property, Ownership, Monetary Policy, Cyberspace, Enamel
- Description
- Bitcoin may seem like a revolutionary form of digital cash, but it is merely the latest experiment in a long history of similar efforts dating back to the 1970s. The story of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology has remained largely untold until now. This exploration reveals how technological utopians and political radicals have crafted experimental money to realize their visions, whether for privacy, governmental disruption, or innovative abundance. The narrative of cryptocurrency pioneers takes us through diverse settings: from autonomous zones at sea to valuable dumps, from bank runs to idea coupons, and from San Francisco bars with time travelers to the security patterns on twenty-dollar bills. The journey also delves into the hard questions these innovators confronted: How do we learn to trust and utilize different forms of money? What attributes confer value to digital objects? How does currency establish its reality? What would it take for a digital equivalent to cash to exist—one that is exchangeable but not copyable, created but not forged, and reveals nothing about its users? Rich with fascinating characters and stories, this account offers an engaging look at the unusual origins and groundbreaking technologies that fuel today’s cryptocurrency surge.