Worth a read? Yes. I think it opens your eyes to different perspectives. Whether you should invest in Bitcoin is up to you.
This book doesn’t talk as much about Bitcoin, but it is an amazing insight to economies of the past. Which lead up to why Bitcoin is talked about so much now.
Book link here.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
At one point in time, your money was based on the gold reserves that your country had. So money was simply a receipt to trade in for gold. This changed with time when countries started printing more and more money.
This period was known as the gold standard and it was a revolutionary time.
Why gold? you can’t keep making more of it (it cost a lot to find), you can’t make gold and most importantly with time, gold doesn’t change.
Due to wars etc. the gold standard was dropped (to fund the wars you need more money). Governments print more money and this makes things cost more (inflation).
So now your money is sort questionable - what is it really ‘worth’. Here comes Bitcoin. Bitcoin is basically the digital form of ‘gold’. It has a limited supply (there can never be more than the amount available). It can be traded with barely any transaction cost (gold has to be delivered) and being digital, it cannot change with time.
Right now, Bitcoin is a STORE OF WEALTH. Just like a gold bar. Whether it will be accepted as a currency is another story.
Is it safe? Yes, it is very secure because of a public ledger system (when someone changes a coin for money or gives someone else a coin it needs to be verified by at least 51% of the network - which is growing by the minute).
Should you invest in Bitcoin? seriously do it at your own risk. I am personally in it but I believe right now the market is extremely variable. Be cautious!
PAS NOTES:
I enjoyed learning about how economies worked before hand. For example, some villages used rocks as money. But most importantly there was something called the gold standard.
Effectively, gold became the first basis of sound money.
Bitcoin is unique in that it has absolute scarcity, there’s a set amount of them. It also has the ledger which acts as a public transaction record of ALL transactions. Ultimately, bitcoin almost acts like gold but in a digital format.
Bitcoin COULD become the new standard, but of course there’s many variables at play here.
First and foremost Bitcoin is variable as heck. The prices are going up and down (don’t look at the daily charts it kills me soul). We recently just saw a huge bull market. We will inevitably see a bear market. Ultimately though, what the book, the Bitcoin Standard, teaches us is that bitcoin could become the new standard but has many obstacles to face. Much like gold, which underwrote an age of prosperity and stability. Will it happen? No one knows. For now, I personally treat it as a store of wealth.
PS. I am invested in the space.
PPS. I have an amazing book on how you can achieve sh*t this year, would love for you to check it out!