The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking, with Saifedean Ammous

When a pseudonymous programmer introduced "a new electronic cash system that's fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party" to a small online mailing list in 2008, very few paid attention. Ten years later, and against all odds, this upstart autonomous decentralized software offers an unstoppable and globally-accessible hard money alternative to modern central banks. In this episode I'm joined by economist Dr Saifedean Ammous. In his book The Bitcoin Standard, he analyzes the historical context to the rise of Bitcoin, the economic properties that have allowed it to grow quickly, and its likely economic, political, and social implications. While Bitcoin is a new invention of the digital age, the problem it purports to solve is as old as human society itself; transferring value across time and space. Is Bitcoin mining a waste of energy? Is Bitcoin for criminals? Who controls Bitcoin, and can they change it if they please? There are so many questions surrounding Bitcoin, crypto-assets and the blockchain right now. In this episode, we seek the answers.

Here’s my conversation with Saifedean Ammous, author of The Bitcoin Standard, in episode 357 of Informed Choice Radio.