Digital gold

Bitcoin and the inside story of the misfits and millionaires trying to reinvent money

by Nathaniel Popper

398 pages

English language

Published Aug. 22, 2015 by Harper.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-236249-0
OCLC Number:: 903213020

(11 reviews)

"A New York Times technology and business reporter charts the dramatic rise of Bitcoin and the fascinating personalities who are striving to create a new global money for the Internet age. Digital Gold is New York Times reporter Nathaniel Popper's brilliant and engrossing history of Bitcoin, the landmark digital money and financial technology that has spawned a global social movement. The notion of a new currency, maintained by the computers of users around the world, has been the butt of many jokes, but that has not stopped it from growing into a technology worth billions of dollars, supported by the hordes of followers who have come to view it as the most important new idea since the creation of the Internet. Believers from Beijing to Buenos Aires see the potential for a financial system free from banks and governments. More than just a tech industry fad, Bitcoin has threatened to decentralize some of society's most basic institutions. An unusual tale of group invention, Digital Gold charts the rise of the Bitcoin technology through the eyes of the movement's colorful central characters, including a British anarchist, an Argentinian millionaire, a Chinese entrepreneur, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, and Bitcoin's elusive creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Already, Bitcoin has led to untold riches for some, and prison terms for others. Digital Gold includes 16 pages of black-and-white photos."--Publisher description

3 editions

VLK249 reviewed Digital gold by Nathaniel Popper

Review of 'Digital gold' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Borrowed this from a friend who was gifted this book (he can't remember if he consulted, or if the author wanted him to review it). Book had been sitting around for a while, and despite its age it has its relevance. Topic is less on what is Bitcoin and more of where it it started and who got it going. Absolutely useless for those who want to know how to get rich on crypto (the trick was to not laugh it off when you heard about it in the news in 2011). On the other hand, if you had a friend who was obsessed with crypto back in the 2010s, then a lot of the name drops and rise and fall of various bitcoin and altcoins enterprises is familiar and illustrated quite narratively well in this book. That is to say, there was a lot of "Ah yes, that thing," for me when reading this.
Rather enjoyed the exploration into the human side. Mr. Popper is a good and informative narrator, and took an angle that a lot of people don't explore. If you've ever had the pleasure/displeasure of meeting a diehard crypto enthusiast, this sums up their ethos and personalities perfectly. And if not, it might explain why you avoided Bitcoin for a while. For me, it got a good chuckle, and it's fun to reflect on the weirdness back in cryptos earlier years.

Moorlock reviewed Digital gold by Nathaniel Popper

Review of 'Digital gold' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

The reporting is very good, with Popper having interviewed nearly everyone involved, and having dug through interminable archives. The story is told in a fairly bland, chronological way, which makes it easy to follow and gives you a bit of a feeling of what it might have felt like to be going through it without knowing what would come next - which is where we are now, I guess, still uncertain whether Bitcoin has become an institution or whether it's a flash in the pan.