Introduction to the book

There’s a lot of excitement about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Optimists claim that Bitcoin will

fundamentally alter payments, economics, and even politics around the world. Pessimists claim

Bitcoin is inherently broken and will suffer an inevitable and spectacular collapse.

Underlying these differing views is significant confusion about what Bitcoin is and how it works. We

wrote this book to help cut through the hype and get to the core of what makes Bitcoin unique.