A Fistful of Bitcoins: The Risks and Opportunities of Virtual Currencies

by Massimo Amato, Luca Fantacci

Overview

"Bitcoin poses the right question, but gives the wrong answer," write Luca Fantacci and Massimo Amato in this lucid and highly original treatment of the cryptocurrency phenomenon. A Fistful of Bitcoins uncovers the paradoxes of the first "digital cash" to achieve global attention: a disruptive payment infrastructure married to a dangerous and deflationary monetary system. From the cryptographic protocols to the quasi-religious ideologies and the retrograde monetary theories supporting Bitcoin, the authors reflect on what Bitcoin gets right and disastrously wrong about our current monetary predicament. With implications for monetary theory and policy, the prospect of central bank-issued digital currencies, and the future of blockchain-based applications, this book will be of interest beyond economics, political science and management for a general public concerned about not just what money is but what money might – and should – become.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9788831322102
Publisher:	EGEA Spa - Bocconi University Press
Publication date:	11/04/2020
Sold by:	INDEPENDENT PUB GROUP - EPUB - EBKS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Massimo is Associate Professor at the Department of Social and Political Sciences at Bocconi Univeristy and Researcher in Economic History. He Is a member of the steering committee for the newly-formed journal of philosophical studies, Laboratorio di Logica. He is also Professor of the specialisation course in philosophical and historical disciplines. He is Assistant Professor of Economic History. His research areas are History of monetary and financial systems and History of economic thought. Massimo is Associate Professor at the Department of Social and Political Sciences at Bocconi Univeristy and Researcher in Economic History. He Is a member of the steering committee for the newly-formed journal of philosophical studies, Laboratorio di Logica. He is also Professor of the specialisation course in philosophical and historical disciplines. He is Assistant Professor of Economic History. His research areas are History of monetary and financial systems and History of economic thought. Massimo is Associate Professor at the Department of Social and Political Sciences at Bocconi Univeristy and Researcher in Economic History. He Is a member of the steering committee for the newly-formed journal of philosophical studies, Laboratorio di Logica. He is also Professor of the specialisation course in philosophical and historical disciplines. He is Assistant Professor of Economic History. His research areas are History of monetary and financial systems and History of economic thought.

Table of Contents

1. What is bitcoin • An electronic payment system at the forefront • An outdated money • How Bitcoin works • Does Bitcoin keep its promises? 2. The macroeconomy of bitcoin • Bitcoin and fiat money in comparison • What the two systems have in common • The hidden meaning of a "brilliant" analogy • The financial strategy of bitcoin 3. The future of Bitcoin: cryptocurrencies vs blockchain • The proliferation of the virtual currencies • Non monetary application of the protocol • Applications outside the economic scope 4. The ideology of Bitcoin • Bitcoin as a proposal of a new faith • What to ask to the monetary project • Bitcoin and the Austrian school of economics • The deflationary anti-inflationism of Bitcoin • The libertarian barrack 5. The monetary reform • The flaws of the present monetary systems • A money that lives up to its tasks • Complementary currencies vs alternative currencies