Mike Fluff Press
Nobody Owns Money
The real history of crypto
Satoshi’s invention was real. Its first customers were the people banks turned away.
Full draft · 43 chapters, 4 interludes · 2 of 49 chapters free · ≈ 6 h of reading
one payment, read online forever, on any device
About the book
Satoshi Nakamoto solved a problem cryptographers had worked on for twenty years and taught strangers to keep one shared record of money with no bank in the middle. A payment in that record cannot be reversed, the bank does not see it, it knows no borders, and a new coin can be issued in a couple of minutes without anyone’s permission. The first to value this were the people banks turned away. The book follows the money from the stone wheels of Yap and Silk Road through ransomware gangs, sanctions laundromats, pyramid schemes, exchanges with painted volumes, ICOs and million-dollar apes, to stablecoins and payments between machines. The author was inside: he mined in 2010, was CTO of a project that raised over five million dollars in its ICO, and in the last chapter goes through what he got wrong.
Contents · 49 chapters
- ·Prologue. The Plane Never LandedFree
- Part I. A Real Invention01A Stone at the Bottom of the SeaFree
- 02The Spectre of Crypto AnarchyAfter sign-in
- 03The Idle GodAfter sign-in
- ·Interlude. The Machine That AgreesAfter sign-in
- Part II. The First Customers04Ten Thousand for a PizzaAfter sign-in
- 05The Dread Pirate RobertsAfter sign-in
- 06Dead DropsAfter sign-in
- ·Interlude. Why Drugs Came FirstAfter sign-in
- Part III. A Website Instead of a Protocol07An Exchange for Magic CardsAfter sign-in
- 08Seventeen GramsAfter sign-in
- 09A Mosquito's Voice in a StadiumAfter sign-in
- 10A One-Megabyte FenceAfter sign-in
- 11The IslandAfter sign-in
- Part IV. Extortionists and States12Employee of the MonthAfter sign-in
- 13Missiles Paid for with Other People's CoinsAfter sign-in
- 14The Sanctions LaundromatAfter sign-in
- 15TornadoAfter sign-in
- Part V. Pyramids16I'm Not a Freeloader, I'm a PartnerAfter sign-in
- 17The Missing CryptoqueenAfter sign-in
- 18Hey Hey HeyAfter sign-in
- 19A Mercedes for a Third of the PriceAfter sign-in
- 20Pig ButcheringAfter sign-in
- 21DubaiAfter sign-in
- Part VI. Bamboo Airfields22The Warlock's TearsAfter sign-in
- 23A Robbery by the RulesAfter sign-in
- 24Just Me and Your MoneyAfter sign-in
- 25A Supercomputer from MoscowAfter sign-in
- ·Interlude. ChronoBankAfter sign-in
- Part VII. The Casino26The House Always WinsAfter sign-in
- 27Painted VolumesAfter sign-in
- 28The Dark ForestAfter sign-in
- 29The Dollar Nobody Has SeenAfter sign-in
- ·Interlude. ThailandAfter sign-in
- Part VIII. Blockchain for Everything30Iced Tea on the BlockchainAfter sign-in
- 31Million-Dollar ApesAfter sign-in
- 32Fortune Favors the BraveAfter sign-in
- Part IX. The Reckoning33I Don't Debate the PoorAfter sign-in
- 34WavesAfter sign-in
- 35The BoxAfter sign-in
- Part X. Cargo Without Pretence36Life as a CasinoAfter sign-in
- 37Superintelligence on the BlockchainAfter sign-in
- 38HamstersAfter sign-in
- Part XI. Wall Street Arrives39An Index of Money LaunderingAfter sign-in
- 40A Box with a TickerAfter sign-in
- Part XII. What Remains41Dollars for Those Who Have NoneAfter sign-in
- 42Money for MachinesAfter sign-in
- 43The WhalersAfter sign-in
- ·Finale. I Was WrongAfter sign-in