Research Guides: Alternative Investments: Cryptocurrency

Books

The Bitcoin Guidebook by Ian DeMartino Revised Edition. Bitcoin has made early investors like the Winkelvoss twins millions in a matter of minutes in the past year and has the potential to transform the financial landscape. It's not too late to get in on the action. Bitcoin is not another payment processor. Like the Internet, Bitcoin is a technology that runs through a distributed network. No one controls it, and no one can shut it down. Bitcoin has been called the currency of the Internet, but it is much more powerful than that. More astute observers have called it the Internet of currency. This revised edition of The Bitcoin Guidebook has the most up-to-date info and recommended approaches for anyone who doesn't want to be left behind in the next technological revolution. It is an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand guide that explains everything the reader needs to know about how Bitcoin and other digital currencies work, what they can be used for, and how they will shape our society in the future. Topics covered include: The digital currency's origins, past, present, and future The revolutionary blockchain technology behind Bitcoin, and its future for the industries of music, arts, photography, and more How to obtain and invest in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency How and where to spend Bitcoin Bitcoin's relationship with the seedy Internet underground Alternative digital currencies, like Ethereum, ripple, Litecoin, IOTA or dash How governments and financial institutions may react to cryptocurrency in the future How to interact with other Bitcoin owners on exchanges like Coinbase
Call Number: 332.4 D
ISBN: 9781510739901
Publication Date: 2018-12-11
The Bitcoin Standard by 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. The Bitcoin Standard 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. Ammous takes the reader on an engaging journey through the history of technologies performing the functions of money, from primitive systems of trading limestones and seashells, to metals, coins, the gold standard, and modern government debt. Exploring what gave these technologies their monetary role, and how most lost it, provides the reader with a good idea of what makes for sound money, and sets the stage for an economic discussion of its consequences for individual and societal future-orientation, capital accumulation, trade, peace, culture, and art. Compellingly, Ammous shows that it is no coincidence that the loftiest achievements of humanity have come in societies enjoying the benefits of sound monetary regimes, nor is it coincidental that monetary collapse has usually accompanied civilizational collapse. With this background in place, the book moves on to explain the operation of Bitcoin in a functional and intuitive way. Bitcoin is a decentralized, distributed piece of software that converts electricity and processing power into indisputably accurate records, thus allowing its users to utilize the Internet to perform the traditional functions of money without having to rely on, or trust, any authorities or infrastructure in the physical world. Bitcoin is thus best understood as the first successfully implemented form of digital cash and digital hard money. With an automated and perfectly predictable monetary policy, and the ability to perform final settlement of large sums across the world in a matter of minutes, Bitcoin's real competitive edge might just be as a store of value and network for final settlement of large payments--a digital form of gold with a built-in settlement infrastructure. Ammous' firm grasp of the technological possibilities as well as the historical realities of monetary evolution provides for a fascinating exploration of the ramifications of voluntary free market money. As it challenges the most sacred of government monopolies, Bitcoin shifts the pendulum of sovereignty away from governments in favor of individuals, offering us the tantalizing possibility of a world where money is fully extricated from politics and unrestrained by borders. The final chapter of the book explores some of the most common questions surrounding Bitcoin: Is Bitcoin mining a waste of energy? Is Bitcoin for criminals? Who controls Bitcoin, and can they change it if they please? How can Bitcoin be killed? And what to make of all the thousands of Bitcoin knock-offs, and the many supposed applications of Bitcoin's 'blockchain technology'? The Bitcoin Standard is the essential resource for a clear understanding of the rise of the Internet's decentralized, apolitical, free-market alternative to national central banks.
ISBN: 9781119473893
Publication Date: 2018-03-23
The Next Everything by Stephen Williams An experienced tech writer fully explains blockchain technology and how it will radically transform the world as we know it in this accessible, reader-friendly, illuminating guide. What is blockchain? Why does everyone from tech experts to business moguls to philanthropists believe it is a paradigm-shifting technology, bound to revolutionize society as significantly as the internet? Indeed, why is blockchain touted as The Next Everything? In this deft, fascinating, and easy-to-digest introduction to one of the most important innovations of recent times, Stephen P. Williams answers these questions, revealing how cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are just one example among dozens of transformative applications that this relatively new technology makes possible. He interprets the complexity into digestible anecdotes, metaphors, and straightforward descriptions for readers who don't know tech, and explains all of blockchain's most important aspects: why this so-called digital ledger is unhackable and unchangeable; how its distributed nature may transfer power from central entities like banks, government, and corporations to ordinary citizens around the world; and what its widespread use will mean for society as a whole. Taking us on a dazzlingly vivid tour through the systems predicted to soon underpin economics, politics, global trade, science, art, and numerous other aspects of our everyday lives, Blockchain: The Next Everything is a truly extraordinary journey into our future.
Call Number: 005.7 W
ISBN: 9781982116828
Publication Date: 2019-03-26
Ethereum : how to safely create stable and long-term passive income by investing in ethereum by Heston, Anthony
ISBN: 9781950855186
Publication Date: 2017
Would you like to have a new passive income stream that makes money while you sleep?
How Bitcoin and Blackchain Are Changing the World by Marti Tirinnanzi The introduction of online Bitcoin trading platforms has enabled Bitcoin to become mainstream in today’s economy, making headline news with soaring valuations, and proving that the underlying Blockchain protocol can bring "trust to a trustless world" across a broad spectrum of industries and business processes. How Bitcoin and Blockchain Are Changing the World explains Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, the advantages and disadvantages of virtual currencies, using virtual currency for making transactions, why its value has dramatically fluctuated, and why other virtual currencies will take Bitcoin’s place in the economic future. In addition, this book delves into the technical side of the Blockchain technology, including a discussion of the cryptographic technology protocol used for digital payments transmitted over the Internet.
Publication Date: 2021
Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technology by Shaen Corbet, Andrew Urquhart and Larisa Yarovaya This handbook will provide a comprehensive treatment of the gamut of issues and challenges that exist through the development of both cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. This will not be confined to simply the investment potential within these new technological areas. We will examine the challenges in the regulatory, legal, taxation, accounting, modelling, ethical, macroeconomic impact and internationalization issues. Research on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology has identified issues such as pricing abnormalities and bubble-like behavior, indicating that these new assets are highly speculative in nature, contain a growing number of legal abnormalities (such as the hacking of exchanges and broad theft of investor assets) and a growing number of significant regulatory issues. It is paramount that we investigate each of these issues in great detail to help to determine whether cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology merits consideration as a sustainable alternative investment asset. The handbook will be useful for specialist technical audiences such as legal, accounting and financial practices. It will also be beneficial for upper level masters and research students in economics, law, accounting, taxation, investment and portfolio management.
Publication Date: 2020