by Ankit Kumar Singh
Trying to convince someone to buy their first cryptocurrency? First, send them this list of five books.
The world has known about Bitcoin for over nine years now and still hasn’t understood it properly. But, the few who did it early somewhat understood the potential of the technology and bought whatever amount they could and have been enjoying the returns over the past years. Remember last year’s boom when Bitcoin shot up to $20,000? Yes, that’s what I am talking about.
Since its inception in 2009, Bitcoin has increased tremendously in value with occasional dips in price such as during 2013 and 2018. Take a look at this graphic below.
Talking about the market size of cryptocurrencies, it today stands at $250B up from nothing nine years ago.
But, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that this $250B worth of wealth created in these years has not been distributed evenly. There is no data available on what percentage of world’s population own cryptocurrencies but many analysts estimate it to be less than 0.5%. Out of this 0.5%, some are true HODLers, which by definition, Hodl is a slang term that is used in the Bitcoin community when referring to holding the cryptocurrency rather than selling it.
On the other end, a “No-Coiner” is someone who doesn’t own any cryptocurrency and is constantly claiming that cryptocurrencies are a scam, a bubble and what not. This is the group of people who actually create FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Dilemma) in the market.
A few days ago, Richard Burton from Balance sent out a tweet asking to suggest books which can persuade a No-Coiner to join the HODL gang.
Well, Rich, here is our response 🙂
#1) Denationalization of Money
“The root and source of all monetary evil is the government’s monopoly on money.”
Written by popular economist, Friedrich Hayek, Denationalization of Money talks about the establishment of competitively issued private moneys.
Hayek advocates that stability in value is presumed to be the decisive factor for acceptance. Hayek makes the assumption that competition will favor currencies with the greatest stability in value since a devalued currency hurts creditors, and an upward-revalued currency hurts debtors. Hence users would choose the currencies which they expected to offer a mutually acceptable intersection between depreciation and appreciation.
Hayek was one of the radical economists of his time and he firmly advocated currencies issues by corporations free from any control of government.
There are many people who believe this radical idea put forward by Hayek may have come to reality in the form of cryptocurrencies.
If you’re just beginning to understand the potential impact of these cryptocurrencies on the world, Hayek’s book is a must-read. You can read the PDF version of the book here.
#2) The Bitcoin Standard
“While Bitcoin is a new invention of the digital age, the problems it purports to solve – namely, providing a form of money that is under the full command of its owner and likely to hold its value in the long run – are as old as human society itself”
This popular book written by Saifedeam Ammous talks about the future prospect of this currency and how it can potentially revamp the entire global economic structure. Using a step by step analysis and breakdown of its history, the author sets the stage for discussing the “exact mechanics of this entire operation”. He starts by describing the reasons for Bitcoin’s initial success and then goes on to share what the future could hold for this digital asset.
Saifedean presents various compelling arguments in his book, for example, he says that rather than acting as a “daily transactional” currency, Bitcoin is better suited as a ”store of value and network for settlement between large financial institutions.” Quoting the fact that Bitcoin possesses a “perfect monetary policy, as well as the ability to perform final settlement of large sums across the world,” it has the potential to completely revolutionize the way money exchanges hands in the business world. You can buy the book here.
#3) The Scandal of Money
“Ever since the millennial crash, the United States has been buffeted by currency shocks, interest-rate gyrations, and financial device bubbles. Government fashions move “investment” from real estate consumption to climate distractions. It was technology alone that saved the world economy.”
The Scandal of Money is one of the most powerful books written by George Glider. He examines why a lot of the actions of central banks are actually destructive of middle-class wealth. He argues for alternative monetary regimes (including gold and possibly electronic exchange mechanisms especially Bitcoin) that he believes could help correct current problems in the economic systems around the world.
Along with this, he also evaluates the key economic decisions made by FDR and Nixon during their presidential regimes which led to the downfall of American economy. You can buy the book here.
#4) The Sovereign Individual
“Governments will ultimately have little choice but to treat populations in territories they serve more like customers, and less in the easy that organized criminals treat the victims of a shakedown racket.”
An extremely thought-provoking book written by two individuals namely James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg, this book talks about the “the fourth stage of human society,” which will liberate individuals as never before, irrevocably altering the power of government. You can buy the book here.
To be noted, this book predicted Trump and Bitcoin in 1997.
#5) The Internet of Money
“As the adage of the entire internet once went, “I just replaced your entire industry with 100 lines of Python code,” that’s exactly what we’re doing with Bitcoin.”
Written by Andreas M Antonopoulos, The Internet of Money is an introductory guide which every No-Coiner needs to understand the world of Bitcoin and other decentralized digital currencies.
In this book, Andreas not only explores the social, historical, political, economic angles of decentralisation but also the philosophical aspects of the same.
Using analogies with earlier technological disruptions such as automobiles and the internet, the book explains a rather complex concept in layman’s terms and is a must for everyone looking to get introduced to the blockchain world. You can buy this book here.
That’s it for now but we will keep adding new books to this periodically. Stay Tuned. 🙂
And, please don’t be this guy. HODL on for life, dear. ?
About the author
Ankit Kumar Singh is a Product & Community Evangelist Prism Labs, makers of Xpo.Network, a Community Development Platform.
