Lately Saifedean Ammous's academic book on Bitcoin called 'The Bitcoin Standard' has been received quite positively by the Bitcoin community, and an increasing number of influencers are referencing his work. Fortunate for you and me, in true open-source fashion, The Bitcoin Standard is available for download on Github, for free.
The Bitcoin Standard
Saifedean Ammous, a professor of Economics at the Lebanese American University, is one of the first people to reach a wide audience by discussing Bitcoin at an academic level. In his book 'The Bitcoin Standard' he explains the full story, from an economist's perspective, of Bitcoin and it's importance in the grand scheme of things. I had heard of this book before but I'm not the book-buying-type these days, but when I found out this week that it's available for download for free I figured I had to give it a read myself. It's not the final draft, but it's the fourth draft that is available for download - it is lacking some minor chapters and there are some missing details here and there, but it's nothing to keep you from reading it. I imagine if you want to read the final draft, you'll actually have to buy the book.
Ammous starts with the history and meaning of money, how it evolved over time and how we got to where we are today, as well as explaining how many of today's world problems are in fact linked to our economic policies. At the core of his arguments is the distinction between sound money and unsound money, and he explains how unsound money is at the root of many of the world's problems, ranging from economic recessions and depressions, cultural decline, malfunction of the free market, the introduction of currency-wars, and many other things. Most interesting I found his explanations of how unsound money is the sole reason that wars such as WW1 was able to be financed for so many years: using inflation nations could finance their wars endlessly, whereas when they were on the gold standard they could only spend as much as the population is willing to pay in taxes.
After setting the stage for about 2/3rd of the book with the context of the current economic world affairs, which I found in fact most interesting, Ammous finally discusses how Bitcoin is the first time that humanity has conceived something that is truly scarce, and which is the most sound money that the world has ever seen. He does a good job at explaining the mechanics and game theoretical incentives that exist to keep the system honest. The Bitcoin Standard is, of course, and obvious reference to the Gold Standard and by the end of the book it becomes clear how Bitcoin could replace gold in this regard. Contrary to the most cryptocurrency-content out there, in 'The Bitcoin Standard' you will find a well thought-out and reasoned argument for Bitcoin and it's future potential, backed up by a plethora of academic resources from the current academic Economical and Philosophical discourse.
Most enjoyable I found Ammous' frequent patronizing of John Maynard Keynes, the father of Keynesian economy. It's clear that Ammous has it out for him, dedicating several lengthy paragraphs to discrediting him, his works and those who follow the Keynesian school of thought. I don't remember too much about Keynes from my own schooling, but as a reader I felt in this regard it could have been a little less, though I imagine that those who share Ammous' distaste might certainly find it agreeable.
I didn't agree to all of Ammous' dispositions in the book, but after reading it I find myself looking back on one of the first well-thought out academic works that will certainly start the discussion among universities worldwide at an economical and philosophical level. At more than 200 pages of text there are few stones he leaves unturned. If you have any people with an academic background in your environment and you're looking at the book about Bitcoin to give to them and perhaps get them to see the merits of Bitcoin, then this is the one you should consider. And if not, it's a pretty good read for a casual reader too! The writing style is easy to understand and relatively easy to follow.
And, of course, if you read it you'll be part of the cool kids club too 😎
To download and read The Bitcoin Standard click here
