Brian Armstrong stepped onto the stage with quiet confidence. He turned to the audience and shared his idea with the simple slogan: "Co in base, the easiest way to get started with bit Co in." for a moment late in 2018, One bit Co in, which physically amounts to a few electrons blipping on a tiny bit of Silicon, was worth $20, The same as a pound of gold. Libertarian technologists who believed bit Co in would be the foundation of a new world order saw the moment as an apotheosis. Everyone else saw a bubble. Everyone else was right, and the bubble burst. But bit Co in survived, and the battle for its soul rages on. True believers view it as the foundation for a future economy freed from the vicissitudes of wall Street and government control of currency. Pragmatists believe that bringing bit Co in into the mainstream will, as the Silicon Valley cliche goes, make the world a better place. But they need buy-in from traditional institutional systems that can prevent the crypto world from devolving into the lawless criminal bazaar it was becoming during the bubble. Journalist Jeff John Roberts drops us into the unfolding drama as he follows the rise, fall, and rebirth of concurrency through the experiences of major players across the globe. We follow Silicon Valley entrepreneur Brian Armstrong and his company, Co in base, as it tries to make bit Co in easy to use and available to all while fighting off hackers, thieves, and zealots. Roberts keenly observes the importance of leadership and strategy in the developing field of virtual currencies and what happens when these guardrails are missing. His ability to explain crypto technology clearly and lay out the ramifications of its infiltration into the global financial system makes this book a must-read for leaders in every industry. The amazing story—full of start-up hijinks, shady investors, billionaire Bros and their lambos, closed-door meetings with Jamie dimon, hacking (so much hacking!), libertarian free-state utopias in New Hampshire, and the winklevoss twins—make this a Page Turner that readers will love.
One sunny afternoon in 2013, I went to Union Square in New York City. I was on a reporting assignment to write about a corner of the park called "Satoshi Square"—the name used by a motley crew of crypto anarchists and Wall Street traders to describe where they bought and sold Bitcoin in the open air. Since that day, I've been fascinated with Bitcoin and new forms of money. That fascination led me to write Kings of Crypto and numerous articles on cryptocurrency. I've been fortunate to meet many colorful people in crypto and technology—from bold entrepreneurs to brilliant outlaws—during my time as a journalist for Reuters and Fortune, and to tell their stories. But I also know it's important to have a life outside of technology, which is why I still treasure books of all sorts, from classic fiction to poetry to history to music biographies. I love big city cocktail bars that serve oysters and classic Manhattans, but also quiet time in the outdoors. I grew up in Vancouver, and have lived in many other places, including Paris and Brooklyn. Currently, I reside in small Colorado town where I explore the state's amazing mountains and rivers with my wife and daughter.
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