From the Publisher
An amazing story. Bitcoin is about to transform both finance and how we use the internet, and this fascinating book chronicles its unlikely genesis. Popper has produced a riveting tale filled with colorful innovators that is crucial reading for anyone who wants to understand the future.” — Walter Isaacson, author of The Innovators
“Bitcoin may be a product of computer science, but it is a very human story. This highly entertaining history reminds us yet again that truth can be stranger than fiction and can be peopled with even more unusual and compelling characters.” — Larry Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury
“So, yes, it’s a totally awesome book” — Justin Fox, Bloomberg
“This excellent work is the book on Bitcoin you’ve been waiting for” — Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution
“An elegant, thrilling tour-de-force. . . . Nathaniel Popper gives us a front-row seat on the origins of Bitcoin and its captivating cast of characters. The fast-paced action never stops.” — William D. Cohan, author of House of Cards
“Finally, the book so many of us have been waiting for: A riveting and smart account of the strange history of Bitcoin. You’ll start knowing nothing about Bitcoin and finish with deep knowledge, but you won’t realize you’re learning along the way — you’ll just think it’s a lot of fun.” — Adam Davidson, co-founder of NPR's Planet Money
“An engrossing introduction to one of the most transformative innovations in finance of the last few decades. Digital Gold paints a vivid portrait of the economics and technology of Bitcoin as well as the people behind it.” — Susan Athey, The Economics of Technology Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Business and Winner of the John Bates Clark Medal in Economics
“The most compelling and in-depth investigation into the world of Bitcoin and digital currency. Nathaniel Popper charts Bitcoin’s fascinating transformation from fringe oddity to a truly global currency. If you want to understand the future of money, read this book.” — Joshua Davis, author of Spare Parts
“Nathaniel Popper’s new book, Digital Gold, is as close as you can get to being the definitive account of the history of Bitcoin.” — Felix Salmon, Fusion
“An engrossing look at a system creatively designed to bring money into the 21st century.” — Library Journal
“Necessary reading” — Bethany McLean, New York Times Book Review
“Digital Gold is as strong a narrative achievement as a reporting one” — Chris Wilson, Bookforum
“A vivid guide to the characters who met online and built bitcoin” — John Gapper, Financial Times
“It’s a tale told quickly and well” — John Biggs, TechCrunch
“An impressive accomplishment” — Tim Fernholz, Quartz
“Bitcoin may be inherently speculative, but Digital Gold is a sound investment” — Edward Chancellor, Reuters
“A family saga... structured like a tech thriller” — John Naughton, The Guardian
Justin Fox
So, yes, it’s a totally awesome book
Walter Isaacson
An amazing story. Bitcoin is about to transform both finance and how we use the internet, and this fascinating book chronicles its unlikely genesis. Popper has produced a riveting tale filled with colorful innovators that is crucial reading for anyone who wants to understand the future.
Susan Athey
An engrossing introduction to one of the most transformative innovations in finance of the last few decades. Digital Gold paints a vivid portrait of the economics and technology of Bitcoin as well as the people behind it.
Joshua Davis
The most compelling and in-depth investigation into the world of Bitcoin and digital currency. Nathaniel Popper charts Bitcoin’s fascinating transformation from fringe oddity to a truly global currency. If you want to understand the future of money, read this book.
William D. Cohan
An elegant, thrilling tour-de-force. . . . Nathaniel Popper gives us a front-row seat on the origins of Bitcoin and its captivating cast of characters. The fast-paced action never stops.
Adam Davidson
Finally, the book so many of us have been waiting for: A riveting and smart account of the strange history of Bitcoin. You’ll start knowing nothing about Bitcoin and finish with deep knowledge, but you won’t realize you’re learning along the way — you’ll just think it’s a lot of fun.
Felix Salmon
Nathaniel Popper’s new book, Digital Gold, is as close as you can get to being the definitive account of the history of Bitcoin.
Tyler Cowen
This excellent work is the book on Bitcoin you’ve been waiting for
Larry Summers
Bitcoin may be a product of computer science, but it is a very human story. This highly entertaining history reminds us yet again that truth can be stranger than fiction and can be peopled with even more unusual and compelling characters.
Tim Fernholz
An impressive accomplishment
John Naughton
A family saga... structured like a tech thriller
John Biggs
It’s a tale told quickly and well
Chris Wilson
Digital Gold is as strong a narrative achievement as a reporting one
Edward Chancellor
Bitcoin may be inherently speculative, but Digital Gold is a sound investment
Bethany McLean
Necessary reading
John Gapper
A vivid guide to the characters who met online and built bitcoin
Library Journal
05/15/2015
This is a biography of the Bitcoin phenomenon and its repercussions on the lives of the various investors, entrepreneurs, and programmers trying to harness the wealth of advantages that have led to the system around the crypto-currency being called "the Internet of money." New York Times reporter Popper culls from hundreds of interviews to piece together the various facets of Bitcoin's attraction, including its potential to facilitate innovative kinds of transactions, reduce costs to merchants, and provide anonymity to privacy-conscious consumers. Wise calibration of esoteric subject matter conveys the significance of events without excessive complexity, and a technical appendix indulges the more computer-savvy reader. Popper thankfully avoids injecting himself into the narrative, leaving the reader feeling like a globe-trotting fly on the wall observing the disruptive effects of an emerging technology on stagnant systems. Overall, this is an engrossing look at a system creatively designed to bring money into the 21st century. VERDICT Readers who were excited about the possibilities of the Internet in 1993 should be similarly piqued by Bitcoin, as should libertarians, tech nerds, philanthropists, and business types.—Ricardo Laskaris, York Univ. Lib., Toronto
The New York Times Book Review - Bethany McLean
But if Bitcoin doesn’t change everything, people will keep trying to find something that will, and so Popper’s book stands as necessary reading, and very intriguing at that, regardless of the eventual fate of his subject.
Kirkus Reviews
2015-03-16
In which all that glitters is not gold—but the usual crowd of crooks and speculators is still part of the package. What is digital gold? Easy: it's a kind of electronic money that permits its users to conceal their identities from even the nosiest hacker—or government agency. As New York Times reporter Popper notes in this oddly entertaining if eminently geeky narrative, the vision of that digital gold comes to us courtesy of dystopian sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson, whose 1999 novel Cryptonomicon glossed over the practical difficulties of getting such a currency accepted at stores and restaurants everywhere, especially when jealous banks and governments wanted nothing to do with it. Of particular interest are Popper's notes on how China, that land of the enshrined command economy, wrestled with whether to declare the manifestation called Bitcoin legal or illegal. Eventually, the government decided that the "virtual currency exchanges needed to register with the Ministry of Information," with all the ominousness that phrase entails. Popper deftly traces the growth of Bitcoin from experiment (complete with a mysterious, elusive inventor) to open-source technology and from easily dismissed plaything to something that the world's leading banks were alternately studying, trying to thwart, and trying to leverage—says one champion, sagely, "I think whatever Jamie [Dimon, of JPMorgan Chase] does or doesn't do will be as relevant as what the Postmaster General did or didn't do about email." The story acquires urgency when the crooks come a-calling, hacking into the hackers' digital dream world to make off with hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of coins that had actual value in the real world. Readers may not be any less confused about the actual workings of Bitcoin, which remain murky, when finished with this book, but they will certainly know enough to make intelligent choices about whether to buy in or steer clear.
