1st Edition
Resistance Money A Philosophical Case for Bitcoin
Bitcoin isn’t just for criminals, speculators, or wealthy Silicon Valley entrepreneurs – despite what the headlines say. In an imperfect world of rampant inflation, creeping authoritarianism, surveillance, censorship, and financial exclusion, bitcoin empowers individuals to elude the expanding reach and tightening grip of institutions both public and private. So although bitcoin is money, it isn’t just money. Bitcoin is resistance money.
Resistance Money: A Philosophical Case for Bitcoin begins by explaining why bitcoin was invented, how it works, and where it fits among other kinds of money. The authors then offer a framework for evaluating bitcoin from a global perspective and use it to examine bitcoin’s monetary policy, censorship-resistance, privacy, inclusion, and energy use. The book develops a comprehensive and measured case that bitcoin is a net benefit to the world, despite its imperfections. Resistance Money is intended for all, from the clueless to the specialist, from the proponent to the die-hard skeptic, and everyone in between.
Key Features:
- Provides a philosophical approach that makes use of multiple disciplines in its analysis
- Offers a clearly written, measured academic treatment of bitcoin, comprehensive in scope and free of ideological baggage
- Includes information on the financial, social, and environmental costs of bitcoin, how these costs are sometimes exaggerated, and how they might be mitigated
- Addresses the strongest arguments against bitcoin and shows how some succeed and most come up short.
1. Bitcoin’s genesis
2. What bitcoin really is
3. Where bitcoin fits
4. Behind the veil
5. Money machine
6. Privacy in public
7. Resisting censorship
8. Money for the marginalized
9. Security through energy
10. The price of energy
11. Against bitcoin
12. Scorecard
References
Index
Biography
Andrew M. Bailey is Associate Professor of Humanities at Yale-NUS College, Singapore.
Bradley Rettler is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming, USA.
Craig Warmke is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, USA.
“Resistance Money is a piece of world-class scholarship that illuminates bitcoin's role in the world today as a way of resisting oppression. It is an open-minded academic exploration of bitcoin's technology, incentive structure, externalities, and global impact. The book is accessible to all, including those with no previous knowledge of bitcoin. It will leave them packed with insights about the rise of Satoshi's new monetary technology and where it might take us tomorrow.” --Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer, Human Rights Foundation
“Have you ever wanted someone to explain this bitcoin thing—the good, the bad, and the truly weird—without also trying to sell you something? Then this is your book. Balanced, exhaustively researched, and fully engaging the cultists, critics, and engineers alike, Resistance Money informs without inflaming and teaches without preaching. The thesis is that despite some well-publicized ill effects, this technology makes the world a better place. But the authors also leave room for you, the reader, to disagree. It’s also—unlike many other groundbreaking works by academic philosophers—enjoyable to read. It’s at the very top of my suggested reading list for anyone curious and open-minded about bitcoin.” -- Troy Cross, Reed College
“Resistance Money may be the best bitcoin book you’ll ever read. It is a non-extremist defense of bitcoin. The authors don’t claim bitcoin will replace the U.S. dollar. They don’t claim bitcoin will put banks out of business. They don’t claim non-bitcoin financial assets are inherently fraudulent or fragile. In place of the bold and unsupported claims found in other bitcoin books, the authors offer a remarkably reasonable view: the world is better off with bitcoin than without it.” -- William J. Luther, Florida Atlantic University
“Resistance Money is the most-accessible and engaging bitcoin book to date. It will appeal to novices and veterans alike who want to understand why bitcoin was created and why it is a singular new technology. The authors are experienced educators, and the book is perfectly pitched for the classroom and for students encountering bitcoin for the first time. Finally, Resistance Money will serve the wider Crypto world, and anyone hoping to learn why the bitcoin community is so passionately committed to it alone.” --Paul J. Dylan-Ennis, University College Dublin
“In a world where bitcoin's success is often equated solely with dollar price action, Resistance Money presents a refreshing perspective. Rather than fixating on Number Go Up, this thoughtful book introduces an alternative yardstick for assessing bitcoin's true impact: its potential for fostering prosocial change. Resistance Money explores the myriad plausible benefits that bitcoin could offer, challenging both critics and advocates to look beyond surface-level metrics and evaluate, on their own terms, whether bitcoin has the capacity to fulfill its promises of empowerment and societal transformation.” -- Micah Warren, University of Oregon, author of Bitcoin: A Game-Theoretic Analysis
“For those curious about why bitcoiners believe in bitcoin's transformative power, this book serves as a critical guide. It breaks down complex concepts into understandable insights and doesn't shy away from the tough questions, making it a valuable read for skeptics and believers alike. If you're on the fence about bitcoin, this might just be the book that opens your eyes to its possibilities.” -- Jerry Brito, Coin Center
“Resistance Money is a well-researched and thoughtful literary achievement, reminding us that Bitcoin is the best money for everyone because it is brilliantly engineered to serve as money for anyone.” -- Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy
