Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain: Bitcoin, Blockchain, Ethereum & Smart Contracts

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There are an estimated 18,000 cryptocurrencies in existence and while there were not nearly as many when this book was published.

Bitcoins are a bit like money in a bank account with a debit card, except there is no safety net and no way to reverse a transaction. David Gerard covers the origins and history of Bitcoin to the present day, the other cryptocurrencies it spawned including Ethereum, the ICO craze and the 2017 crypto bubble, and the attempts to apply blockchains and smart contracts to business. Cryptocurrencies have a patchy history, for sure, and there are still a lot of foundational problems out there hindering their adoption that either remain unsolved or have solutions the powers that be seemingly aren't so interested in.He [= McCaleb] had run the “Magic: The Gathering Online Exchange” for a few months in 2007, using the domain name mtgox.

Gerard's book starts out with a technical explanation of Bitcoin followed by a somewhat flawed explanation of libertarian/free market/Austrian ideals, and is incredibly critical throughout (Bitcoin mining is is "to show that you can waste electricity faster than everyone else;" libertarians have "odd notions of how economics works or humans behave.

The book is a thorough deconstruction of the history, mythology, and outrageous over-claims of this popular new technology. Disney famously screwed him by making the Genie take up 25% of the space…and making the other characters significantly smaller. Again, they’re hip, and happening, but don’t appear to actually solve any problems with real world contracts, which have always been interpretation (what does “anticipatory breach” mean?

Bitcoin’s tamper-proof ledger is frequently cited as a strength, but there are times when you want to tamper with the ledger.While there are probably many more books to be written about the history, technology, and culture behind this stuff, Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain is an excellent primer on the foolishness surrounding Bitcoin, and a bracing reminder of just what a bad idea the whole thing was in the first place.