How Money Got Free: Bitcoin and the Fight for the Future of Finance

By Brian Patrick Eha

In the space of a few years, Bitcoin has gone from an idea ignored or maligned by almost everyone to an asset with a market cap of more than $12 billion. Venture capital firms, Goldman Sachs, the New York Stock Exchange, and billionaires such as Richard Branson and Peter Thiel have invested more than $1 billion in companies built on this groundbreaking technology. Bill Gates has even declared it ‘better than currency’.

But can its early promise endure? Or will the next evolution of money be neutered as it goes mainstream? The pioneers of Bitcoin were twenty-first-century outlaws – cryptographers, hackers, Free Staters, ex-cons and drug dealers, teenage futurists and self-taught entrepreneurs – armed with a renegade ideology and a grudge against big government and big banks. Now those same institutions are threatening to co-opt or curtail the impact of digital currency. But the pioneers, some of whom have become millionaires themselves, aren’t going down without a fight. Sweeping and provocative, How Money Got Free reveals how this disruptive technology is shaping the debate around competing ideas of money and liberty, and what that means for our future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oneworld Publications
• Release date: May 9, 2017
• ISBN: 9781780746593

Reviews for How Money Got Free

[polaritynk · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I had a bit of a tough time with this one. I was really interested in Bicoin and how it could apply or relate to everyday people, but there was a lot of financial data that I found myself wanting to gloss over. While I have no problem with very long books, I didn't quite get the information I wanted out of this over 500 page book. Some bits (haha) were quite interesting, but a lot of it was a bit dry. I would probably still recommend reading this unless you just have a casual interest in what Bitcoins are.

[cheetosrapper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fascinating book on the world of Bitcoin. Part history, part social economics, and part intrigue this book will get any reader caught up into the world of Bitcoin.

[vpfluke · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was not what I expected. I was expecting a book about Bitcoins might be useful for smaller account exchanges, but what I got was a book about investors and their sidelined way of using Bitcoin. So, it's a story about investors, and some of their nefarious dealings. As I started reading, I could see this was going to be quite a slog. So, I really could have used an index to try to find intersting things to read in it without being bored. So, I waited until a real copy of the book was available at a local Long Island library, which did not happen until June.Bitcoins are a crypto-currency, where the word 'bit' is a reference to its electronic, but non-physical existence. Some people have thought Bitcoins were uber-modern tokens and a substitute for money in everyday payments. But Bicoins are mostly used as quick (i.e non-vetted) financing for start-up businesses, or people who havve a great interest in hiding what they are doing with the money (e.g. drug deals or getting money across difficult borders). This book is more about the people using Bitcoins rather than information about Bitcoins and how they might actually function in themselves. To give you an idea of what I am thrilled to read, here are the first phrases of each paragraph in Chapter 7 (Bitcoin Never Sleeps):"The girls were dancing on a neon tank.""On this hot Tokyo night in July 2013....""Roger met him at the airport....""Robot Restaurant is Roger Ver's first choice....""The spectacle was also part of his self-representation....""Nic, then twenty-eight, witha round approachable face...."This is the style for 450 pages, and it probably works for a lot of people, but not for me.

[bloodymahvelous · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A dry read, but comprehensive. The author tries to jazz up an already fascinating topic by focusing on stories of the use of bitcoins, and less about of the history of it; it felt like a spy novel and not an expository book. I was mostly excited for this title to understand more about how everyday people could benefit from the use of a currency like bitcoin, but this book did not quite meet that expectation and focused more on financial sector aspects. Overall, worth reading, but beware the 500+ pages.

[richard4greenfield · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I thought Eha successfully dramatized the history of Bitcoin, pacing the inevitable and often bleak collisions between a radical idea and power financial and government institutions. I appreciated the reportage here, and I learned so much. It's quite exhaustive on this history.

[doctordebt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A very well-written, journalistic book giving the broad strokes of Bitcoin's history over the past decade. "How Money Got Free" largely follows figures including Roger Ver and Charlie Shrem. As such, the perspective–unsurprisingly–is slanted towards the bitcoin community. However, the mix of society with a little bit of economic history and technology produces a very engaging read, and the book overall feels quite well researched. It's an exceptional introduction to the expanding world of virtual currencies and related technologies.