The Bitcoin Standard

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BITCOIN'S HISTORY, PROPERTIES, USES, AND FUTURE In The Bitcoin Standard, economist Saifedean Ammous walks readers through the fascinating history of the technologies of money and explores what gave these technologies their monetary role, how they lost it, what that teaches us about the desirable features of money, and how Bitcoin is designed to improve on these technologies. Ammous elucidates the economic, social, cultural, and political benefits of sound money over unsound money to allow for an informed discussion of the potential role Bitcoin could play in the digital economy of the future. Rather than as a currency for criminals or a cheap mass consumer payment network, this book argues Bitcoin is emerging as a decentralized, politically neutral, free-market alternative to national central banks, with potentially enormous implications for individual freedom and prosperity. For anyone looking for a clear understanding of this new digital money, The Bitcoin Standard is the essential resource. "The Bitcoin Standard should be required reading for everyone in modern society. It offers a concise and coherent narrative of monetary theory, the history of money, practical economics, and the impact of political policy on business, culture, and the economy. The book contains perhaps one of the best articulations of the virtues of strong money and the dangers of weak currency yet presented in modern literature. The Bitcoing Standard also masterfully debunks the myths of modern monetary theory and the broken ideas that have dominated the fiat economic school of thought since the early 20th century."
-From the Foreword by Michael Saylor, CEO of Microstrategy "I have spent my entire career studying works about monetary theory, the gold standard, comparative monetary systems, central banks, and proposals for monetary and financial reform. I would rate a tiny fraction of the books I have read about any of these topics as excellent. Dr. Ammous' book, The Bitcoin Standard, contains an excellent treatment of these topics in addtion to one of the few enlightened and enlightening accounts of bitcoin that I have come across. It is essential reading for anyone interested in learning the role bitcoin could play in a future regime of free and sound money."
-Dr. Joseph T. Salerno, Academic Vice President of the Mises Institute & Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics

SAIFEDEAN AMMOUS, PhD, is a Professor of Economics at the Lebanese American University, and member of the Center on Capitalism and Society at Columbia University.

About the Author xi Foreword xiii Prologue xv Chapter 1 Money 1 Chapter 2 Primitive Moneys 11 Chapter 3 Monetary Metals 17 Why Gold? 19 Roman Golden Age and Decline 25 Byzantium and the Bezant 28 The Renaissance 29 La Belle Époque 34 Chapter 4 Government Money 41 Monetary Nationalism and the End of the Free World 43 The Interwar Era 47 World War II and Bretton Woods 53 Government Money's Track Record 60 Chapter 5 Money and Time Preference 73 Monetary Inflation 81 Saving and Capital Accumulation 90 Innovations: "Zero to One" versus "One to Many" 96 Artistic Flourishing 98 Chapter 6 Capitalism's Information System 105 Capital Market Socialism 109 Business Cycles and Financial Crises 113 Sound Basis for Trade 126 Chapter 7 Sound Money and Individual Freedom 135 Should Government Manage the Money Supply? 136 Unsound Money and Perpetual War 145 Limited versus Omnipotent Government 149 The Bezzle 155 Chapter 8 Digital Money 167 Bitcoin as Digital Cash 168 Supply, Value, and Transactions 177 Appendix to Chapter 8 191 Chapter 9 What Is Bitcoin Good For? 193 Store of Value 193 Individual Sovereignty 200 International and Online Settlement 205 Global Unit of Account 212 Chapter 10 Bitcoin Questions 217 Is Bitcoin Mining a Waste? 217 Out of Control: Why Nobody Can Change Bitcoin 222 Antifragility 230 Can Bitcoin Scale? 232 Is Bitcoin for Criminals? 238 How to Kill Bitcoin: A Beginners' Guide 241 Altcoins 251 Blockchain Technology 257 Acknowledgements 273 Bibliography 275 List of Figures 282 List of Tables 284 Index 285