Dogecoin

Personal Finance with Python
by Max Humber

Dogecoin just seemed like a lot more fun to talk about than something else random, like a lemonade stand. Mining If you’re interested in Dogecoin and want to own some, you can do one of the following:Buy it Generate it through a process called mining Buying Dogecoin is straightforward. But mining is more interesting. To grossly oversimplify things, to mining Dogecoin requires the installation of a program, on your computer that uses your hardware to solve computationally expensive math problems. Solve a problem. Get a Dogecoin. Easy-peasy. While you can run mining applications on your laptop, those serious about mining—for Dogecoin or otherwise—opt to run these sorts of applications on specialized rigs.

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For the uninitiated, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (and Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Zcash) are digital assets that are designed to function as a medium of exchange and that use cryptography to secure transactions, to control the creation of new money, and to verify asset transfer. Because I think it’s hilarious, I’m going to use Dogecoin1 as the glue for the rest of this chapter. But honestly, these ideas extend beyond Dogecoin (and crypto for that matter). They apply whenever you have to spend money to make money. So, if you’re not a fan of crypto or Dogecoin (I certainly don’t blame you), bear with me. Dogecoin just seemed like a lot more fun to talk about than something else random, like a lemonade stand.

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However, if you take on debt to buy something that will propel you forward and will help you pay it back, debt can super powerful. A couple of chapters ago we talked about Dogecoin mining. Implicit in the example was the concept of spending money to make money. The chapter assumed that a decent mining rig would set us back about $3,000 CAD (or as we learned previous chapter, around $2,341 USD). Most people don’t have that kind of money sitting liquid. If you have only a couple hundred dollars to your name, the Dogecoin game is out of the question, unless, of course, you decide to go into debt. (If you’re sick of Dogecoin at this point, pretend that you need $3,000 for a new laptop!) Quick disclaimer: debt is a super-complex subject.

The Bitcoin Guidebook: How to Obtain, Invest, and Spend the World's First Decentralized Cryptocurrency
by Ian Demartino
Published 2 Feb 2016

Accessed June 21, 2015. http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/04/farewell-to-arscoin-preparing-to-kill-our-cryptocurrency/. 3 “Dogecoin to Sponsor Josh Wise at Talladega.” NASCAR.com. May 22, 2014. Accessed June 22, 2015. http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2014/5/22/josh-wise-dogecoin-sponsorship-talladega-sprint-fan-vote.html. 4 Davidson, Kavitha A. “Jamaican Bobsledders Ride Dogecoin Into Olympics.” BloombergView.com. February 4, 2014. Accessed June 22, 2015. http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-02-04/jamaican-bobsledders-ride-dogecoin-into-olympics. 5 Higgins, Stan. “Dogecoin Community Celebrates as Merge Mining with Litecoin Begins.” CoinDesk.

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Recently, Litecoin started merge mining (i.e., mining two coins with the same algorithm at the same time) with Dogecoin. Both coins use Scrypt, so hashrates can be put toward both coins simultaneously. There was no downside for Litecoin miners and the merge helped secure the Dogecoin network by bringing Litecoin miners onto it. Dogecoin Algorithm: Scrypt with AuxPoW Mining Type: Proof-of-Work Block Time: 1 minute Difficulty Re-target: Digishield (variable) Block Reward (current): 10k Doge Reward Curve: Halves every 840,000 blocks Total Number of Doge: 100 billion [goal, variable] If Litecoin is the most popular serious cryptocurrency, Dogecoin—pronounced either “Doggy Coin” or “Douje-Coin” depending on whom you ask—is the most “viral.”

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Originally intended as a joke, Dogecoin ended up being a major hit with better-than-average staying power. The key to Dogecoin’s early success was its mascot. A Shiba Inu dog that had become an Internet meme has served as the mascot for the currency since its inception. The coin itself was never meant to survive long-term from a technical perspective, as it offered extremely high rewards early on to benefit early adopters. It is arguable that Dogecoin was set up as a pump-and-dump itself. This aspect hasn’t stopped it from thriving as a currency. A coin’s community can be extremely important and Dogecoin’s community is top-notch.

Four Futures: Life After Capitalism
by Peter Frase
Published 10 Mar 2015

Measured in terms of its value in US dollars, Dogecoin never threatened Bitcoin. But that was never relevant for the currency’s core use. Within a few months of its inception, there were more daily unique transactions in Doges than Satoshis (as Bitcoins were sometimes called in homage to their mysterious inventor).29 And that’s because Dogecoin satisfied a need for a different kind of currency, far removed from the traditional capitalist sort and in fact more similar to Whuffie. Technically, Dogecoin and Bitcoin are nearly identical, but that’s a misleading picture of Dogecoin’s significance. The sociology of Dogecoin’s community is very different, as is the problem to which Dogecoin provides a solution.

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The sociology of Dogecoin’s community is very different, as is the problem to which Dogecoin provides a solution. To understand Dogecoin, you have to understand what people mostly do with the currency. While people do sometimes buy valuable goods with it, the most common use is “tipping”: the practice of transferring a small number of Dogecoins to another Internet user in appreciation of their witty or helpful contribution. This is encouraged by the fact that a single Dogecoin was only worth a tiny fraction of a cent in US currency. Tipping in Dogecoins became particularly common on Reddit and Twitter, which developed easy-to-use platforms for executing these transfers.

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For the purposes of this chapter, however, the most interesting cryptocurrency is the one that is generally regarded as a silly joke: Dogecoin. In its rise and fall we can see a promising mechanism that may have been introduced prematurely into a society that was not ready for it. Dogecoin takes its name from a viral Internet meme featuring a picture of a Shiba Inu dog surrounded by enthusiastic, ungrammatical exclamations. By the time of publication, readers of this book may not even remember it. And the same may be true of Dogecoin, which was launched at the peak of both Bitcoin and Doge’s popularity in late 2013. Yet the community that arose around it tells us something important about the real significance of the entire class of alternative moneys.

Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain: Bitcoin, Blockchain, Ethereum & Smart Contracts
by David Gerard
Published 23 Jul 2017

It hovered around $4 until it hit $30 in the second bubble – altcoin prices tend to track Bitcoin’s price – and the small current volume is Chinese speculators. Dogecoin Dogecoin (pronounced “dozhe-coin” or “dogue-coin”) started in December 2013, originally as a joke based on the “Doge” Shiba Inu Internet meme.288 The idea was mostly to have some fun with cryptocurrency cheap enough to mess around with; and who knows, maybe we’ll all get rich! Dogecoiners (“shibes”), gathering on Reddit /r/dogecoin, still dreamt of a cryptocurrency payday – but they made an explicit point of being nicer as a community than Bitcoin advocates, who had quite a reputation by this stage. Dogecoin got caught up in the hype of the Bitcoin bubble and quickly gained in price, peaking in January 2014 at 0.17 of a cent per DOGE, despite almost no use cases (some used it to tip other Reddit commenters) and not being exchangeable for anything but bitcoins.

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He was also charged over the stolen Mintpal bitcoins in June 2017.292 With Green/Kennedy no longer in the picture, /r/dogecoin recovered its spirit somewhat, refused to worry about prices any more and is back to just having fun, though with wistful dreams of crypto riches. Unlike other cryptocurrencies’ claims about their prices, Dogecoin may succeed in going “to the moon!” – the community sponsored sending a physical Dogecoin on an Astrobotic commercial moon shot.293 It came out in May 2017 that the operator of the Dogecoin tipping bot on Reddit had stolen all the deposited Dogecoins two years earlier.294 Much sorry, many loss. Ethereum Ethereum was proposed by Vitalik Buterin (an early Bitcoiner and a co-founder of Bitcoin Magazine) and developed by Buterin, Gavin Wood, Jeffrey Wilcke and others.

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Dogecoin got caught up in the hype of the Bitcoin bubble and quickly gained in price, peaking in January 2014 at 0.17 of a cent per DOGE, despite almost no use cases (some used it to tip other Reddit commenters) and not being exchangeable for anything but bitcoins. The Dogecoin Foundation, started by Ben Doernberg and the coin’s creator Jackson Palmer, raised nearly $30,000 of Dogecoins in January to send the Jamaican bobsled team to the 2014 Winter Olympics. Doge4Water raised $32,000 for clean water in Kenya. This attracted the attention of a fellow calling himself Alex Green. “My name is Alex Green. I have zero online footprint.” He quickly set up UK cryptocurrency exchange Moolah. While others tipped single Dogecoins, worth a fraction of a penny, Green caught attention with tips of thousands of dollars. Dogecoin then raised $50,000 to sponsor a NASCAR racer, Josh Wise.

Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor's Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond: The Innovative Investor's Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond
by Chris Burniske and Jack Tatar
Published 19 Oct 2017

As Palmer stated in an early interview: It’s not taking itself as seriously, it’s not being used by people worrying about whether they’ll become rich … It’s something to share for thanks or kudos.36 Palmer’s marketing expertise was another feature that differentiated Dogecoin from other cryptocurrencies at the time. The Dogecoin community raised $50,000 via Dogecoin to send the Jamaican bobsled team to the Olympics; raised another $55,000 via Dogecoin to sponsor a NASCAR driver who raced with the Dogecoin logo at the Talladega Speedway; and raised money to support clean water projects in Kenya via Doge4Water, making the donation via a Twitter-based tip service.37 While Dogecoin may have been launched as a joke, its association with a wildly popular Internet meme, its lighthearted origins, and its savvy focus on slick marketing led to a quick rise, and its network value grew to $70 million only seven weeks after launch.38 But that did not last long.

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Ripple has since pivoted away from being a transaction mechanism for the common person and instead now “enables banks to send real-time international payments across networks.”29 This focus plays to Ripple’s strengths, as it aims to be a speedy payment system that rethinks correspondent banking but still requires some trust, for which banks are well suited. Dogecoin A somewhat comic cryptocurrency addition arrived on December 8, 2013 (less than two weeks after bitcoin hit a notable high of $1,242) in the form of dogecoin.30 Dogecoin was launched as a riff off Doge the dog, which Wired magazine had pegged as 2013’s meme31 of the year.32 Doge was a Shiba Inu dog whose image with captions of an internal monologue went viral. Dogecoin was initially floated as a joke. Jackson Palmer, who worked in the marketing department of Adobe’s Sydney offices and was a cryptocurrency enthusiast, sent the tweet: “Investing in Dogecoin, pretty sure it’s the next big thing.”33 After a positive reception to what was intended as a joke, he bought the domain, Dogecoin.com.

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Jackson Palmer, who worked in the marketing department of Adobe’s Sydney offices and was a cryptocurrency enthusiast, sent the tweet: “Investing in Dogecoin, pretty sure it’s the next big thing.”33 After a positive reception to what was intended as a joke, he bought the domain, Dogecoin.com. Jackson’s activity caught the attention of Billy Markus, a Portland, Oregon-based developer who aspired to launch a new cryptoasset. In Markus’s own words: “The first thing I said was, ‘This is so funny.’ Then I said, ‘I should just make this coin.’”34 Markus used Litecoin’s code to derive Dogecoin, thereby making it one more degree of separation removed from Bitcoin. If Litecoin was a child of Bitcoin, then Dogecoin was a grandchild of Bitcoin. A notable variation was that Dogecoin planned to issue a much larger amount of dogecoin than bitcoin or even litecoin.

Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall
by Zeke Faux
Published 11 Sep 2023

“I don’t know anything about it other than its name,” he wrote. “I am very bored.” He didn’t even have the name right. It was called “Dogecoin,” pronounced “dohj,” and it was a cryptocurrency based on a meme of a Shiba Inu glancing to the side. Don’t worry about how exactly a dog joke turns into a financial asset—even Dogecoin’s creator didn’t understand how it happened. Like most cryptocurrencies, it had no “revenue” or “profits.” There was no reason why it should have any value. I told Jay all this. I said that, as a joke, Dogecoin wasn’t even funny. He didn’t care. “I fully understand how stupid this is. That’s why it’s funny to me,” Jay wrote.

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Then they took this nihilistic, buy-it-for-the-LOLs mentality to crypto. Dogecoin replaced politics and dad jokes in the group chat. Jay texted us to say that Dogecoin had sponsored a NASCAR driver. I noticed Elon Musk was talking about it too. As the price climbed from a penny to two cents, then three cents, then five cents, I got more and more annoyed. It wasn’t so much that Jay was making money and I wasn’t. It was more that I knew I was right. And, okay, I was jealous. A few days after Jay’s first text, I pulled up Drudge Report to see a smiling Shiba Inu splashed across the news aggregator’s front page: “Reddit Frenzy Pumps Up Dogecoin! Now Worth Billions!”

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Jay eventually sold out and made several thousand dollars. Then he taunted me by sending selfies from a trip to Walt Disney World, financed with his trading profits. “If you listened to me when I first told you to throw $10 on Dogecoin, you’d all be $500 richer right now,” Jay wrote. “I am freaking Nostradamus!” Jay wouldn’t admit he’d gotten lucky. He acted like his Dogecoin score proved his astute understanding of crowd psychology. Even after he moved on, I didn’t. I started seeing crypto bros everywhere. They were acting like the rising prices of the coins proved they were geniuses. And their numbers were growing

The Age of Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and Digital Money Are Challenging the Global Economic Order
by Paul Vigna and Michael J. Casey
Published 27 Jan 2015

altcoin that started out as a joke by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer: Patrick McGuire, “Such Weird: The Founders of Dogecoin See the Meme Currency’s Tipping Point,” Motherboard, December 23, 2013, http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/dogecoins-founders-believe-in-the-power-of-meme-currencies. Through campaigns launched on Reddit: For an overview of dogecoin fund-raising efforts, The Dogesonian has an overview at http://thedogesonian.weebly.com/the-early-dogecoin-projects.html. Also see Roop Gill, “Manchester Co-op Gets a Hand from Dogecoin to Smash Fundraising Targets,” CoinDesk, April 22, 2014, http://www.coindesk.com/manchester-co-op-gets-hand-dogecoin-smash-fundraising-target/. Our favorite dogecoin endeavor: Paul Vigna, “BitBeat: Dogecoin Makes Its NASCAR Debut; Ripple Signs a Bank,” Wall Street Journal, MoneyBeat blog, May 5, 2014, http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/05/05/bitbeat-dogecoin-makes-its-nascar-debut-ripple-signs-a-bank/.

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For its software, dogecoin borrowed some of the ideas of litecoin’s founder, Charlie Lee, who had tweaked the mining system for his coins so that miners weren’t so incentivized to build up energy-hungry computing power in competition with each other as they were with bitcoin. But just as important, if not more, to dogecoin’s appeal were the two main goals that its emerging community set for itself: dogecoin was going to be fun, and its members were going to use their currency to do good deeds. Dogecoin was going to be philanthropic. Interest in the currency rose, as did its price on cryptocurrency markets, where it traded against bitcoins, which could then be sold for dollars. This meant that dogecoins had real value and could be used to raise money for causes. One member of the Dogecoin Foundation read about the Jamaican bobsled team’s being short of funds for a trip to the Sochi Olympics in 2014 and proposed raising money for their trip.

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Our favorite dogecoin endeavor: Paul Vigna, “BitBeat: Dogecoin Makes Its NASCAR Debut; Ripple Signs a Bank,” Wall Street Journal, MoneyBeat blog, May 5, 2014, http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/05/05/bitbeat-dogecoin-makes-its-nascar-debut-ripple-signs-a-bank/. When GoCoin decided that it would: Michael J. Casey, “BitBeat: Much Good, Dogecoin; So Hip,” Wall Street Journal, MoneyBeat blog, March 13, 2014, http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/03/13/bitbeat-much-good-dogecoin-so-hip/. though with bitcoin’s market capitalization more than ten times: as per the market capitalizations of the top 100 cryptocurrencies quoted at coinmarketcap.com.

Blockchain: Blueprint for a New Economy
by Melanie Swan
Published 22 Jan 2014

Daily Dot, October 21, 2014. http://www.dailydot.com/politics/moolah-dogecoin-alex-green-ryan-kennedy-ryan-gentle-millions-missing-mintpal/. 188 Pick, L. “Nearly $2 Million Worth of Vericoin Stolen from MintPal, Hard Fork Implemented.” Digital Currency Magnates, July 15, 2014. http://dcmagnates.com/nearly-2-million-worth-of-vericoin-stolen-from-mintpal-hard-fork-considered/. 189 Greenberg, A. “Hacker Hijacks Storage Devices, Mines $620,000 in Dogecoin.” Wired, June 17, 2014. http://www.wired.com/2014/06/hacker-hijacks-storage-devices-mines-620000-in-dogecoin/. 190 Swan, M. “Scaling Crowdsourced Health Studies: The Emergence of a New Form of Contract Research Organization.”

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Then, the top layer is the currency itself, Bitcoin, which is denoted as BTC or Btc when traded in transactions or exchanges. There are hundreds of cryptocurrencies, of which Bitcoin is the first and largest. Others include Litecoin, Dogecoin, Ripple, NXT, and Peercoin; the major alt-currencies can be tracked at http://coinmarketcap.com/. Table 1-1. Layers in the technology stack of the Bitcoin blockchain Cryptocurrency: Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin, Dogecoin Bitcoin protocol and client: Software programs that conduct transactions Bitcoin blockchain: Underlying decentralized ledger The key point is that these three layers are the general structure of any modern cryptocurrency: blockchain, protocol, and currency.

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The concept and operational details are described in a concise and readable white paper, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.”7 Payments using the decentralized virtual currency are recorded in a public ledger that is stored on many—potentially all—Bitcoin users’ computers, and continuously viewable on the Internet. Bitcoin is the first and largest decentralized cryptocurrency. There are hundreds of other “altcoin” (alternative coin) cryptocurrencies, like Litecoin and Dogecoin, but Bitcoin comprises 90 percent of the market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies and is the de facto standard. Bitcoin is pseudonymous (not anonymous) in the sense that public key addresses (27–32 alphanumeric character strings; similar in function to an email address) are used to send and receive Bitcoins and record transactions, as opposed to personally identifying information.

Mastering Blockchain: Unlocking the Power of Cryptocurrencies and Smart Contracts
by Lorne Lantz and Daniel Cawrey
Published 8 Dec 2020

More Altcoin Experiments Lots more altcoins have been launched since the early era. A few interesting examples include: Dogecoin Invented by programmer Billy Markus and marketer Jackson Palmer in 2013, Dogecoin is the realization of an internet meme crossed with cryptocurrency. Tweeting as a joke (Figure 3-6), Palmer suggested creating a cryptocurrency based on the internet meme of a Shiba Inu dog (doge). The idea gained traction, and an ecosystem formed around Dogecoin. Dogecoin is relatively inexpensive to acquire because there is no cap on the total number of coins, which keeps its price low. Figure 3-6. Dogecoin started with a simple tweet Unobtainium Derived from an engineering term for an extremely rare element, Unobtainium was established in 2013.

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As its name suggests, the cryptocurrency has a very small number of coins in circulation—a cap of 250,000 units was set, to be mined over 30 years. Though an interesting experiment to try to create low inflation, Unobtanium experiences volatility like most other cryptocurrencies, and its daily trading volume is low (in the hundreds of dollars). Coinye Introduced in 2014, not long after Dogecoin, Coinye or Coinye West was the plan for a Scrypt-based cryptocurrency using rapper Kayne West as its meme/mascot. Almost immediately after the plans were announced, the developers received a trademark infringement notice from Kanye West. Although the team rushed to launch the coin, the legal pressure forced them to shut the project down.

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Byzantine agreement, Other Concepts for Consensus Byzantine fault-tolerant agreement, RippleHotStuff algorithm, Borrowing from Existing Blockchains C Cardano, Blockchains to Watch Casper algorithm (proof-of-stake), Ethereum Scaling CCXT (CryptoCurrency eXchange Trading Library), Open Source Trading Tech cell phone porting attacks, Security Fundamentals central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), Central Bank Digital Currencies centralizationcaused by proof-of-work consensus on Bitcoin, Ripple and Stellar decentralization versus, Decentralization Versus Centralization distributed versus centralized versus decentralized systems, Distributed Versus Centralized Versus Decentralized-Bitcoin Predecessors Libra's centralization challenge, Novi centralized exchanges, Decentralized Exchange Contracts, The Role of Exchanges, Jurisdictiondecentralized exchanges versus, Decentralized Versus Centralized Exchanges-Scalabilitycustody and counterparty risk, Custody and counterparty risk exchange rate, Exchange rate infrastructure, Infrastructure Know Your Customer (KYC) rules, Know your customer scalability, Scalability token listing, Token listing infrastructure differences from decentralized exchanges, Decentralized Exchange Contracts CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission), FinCEN Guidance and the Beginning of Regulation Chainalysis, Analytics channels (Lightning), Lightning Chaum, David, DigiCash Chia, Alternative methods Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), partnership with Royal Mint, The Royal Mint China, central bank cryptocurrency, China Coburn, Zachary, Skirting the Laws Coin ATM Radar website, Evolution of the Price of Bitcoin Coinbase, Wallet Types: Custodial Versus Noncustodial, Custody Coinbase Pro, ExchangesAPI example, BTC/USD ticker call, Exchange APIs and Trading Bots arbitrage trading on, Arbitrage Trading-Float Configuration 3 custody solutions, robust, Counterparty Risk example order book, Slippage coinbase transaction, Storing Data in a Chain of Blocks, The Coinbase TransactionBitcoin Genesis block, Achieving Consensus Coincheck, Coincheck CoinDesk, Information coins, DigiCash Coinye, More Altcoin Experiments cold storage wallets, Counterparty Risk cold wallets, Wallet Type Variations collisions, cryptographic hashes and, Hashes colored coins, NXT, Colored Coins and Tokens Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), Wash Trading Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), FinCEN Guidance and the Beginning of Regulation conferences on blockchain industry, Information confidential assets, Liquid confirmations, Confirmations confirmed transactions, Transactionsconfirmed by miner, Transaction life cycle confirmed by network on Bitcoin, Transaction life cycle consensus, Consensus-Alternative methodsAvalanche mechanism, Avalanche in Bitcoin network, Compelling Components-Generating transactions Corda, Corda consensus in decentralized systems, Distributed Versus Centralized Versus Decentralized Libra mechanism for, Borrowing from Existing Blockchains, How the Libra Protocol Works other concepts for, Other Concepts for Consensus proof-of-stake, Proof-of-Stake-Proof-of-Stake proof-of-work, Proof-of-Work-Confirmationsblock discovery, Block discovery confirmations by miners of block to include in blockchain, Confirmations mining process on Bitcoin, The mining process transaction life cycle, Transaction life cycle SCP protocol, Stellar XRP Consensus Protocol, Ripple ConsenSys, ConsenSysTruffle Suite tools for smart contracts, Authoring a smart contract contentious hard forks, Understanding Forks-Replay attacksreplay attacks vulnerability, Replay attacks Corda, Corda-Corda languageconsensus, Corda consensus how it works, How Corda works ledger, Corda ledger network, The Corda network programming language, Corda language Counterparty blockchain, Counterparty counterparty risk, Counterparty Riskon centralized versus decentralized exchanges, Custody and counterparty risk reduced, on decentralized exchanges, Decentralized Exchange Contracts cross-shard communication complexity, Other Altchain Solutions crypto laundering, The Evolution of Crypto Laundering-The Evolution of Crypto Launderinghow funds are laundered, The Evolution of Crypto Laundering cryptocurrencies, Cryptocurrency Fundamentals-Summaryadditional, Mastercoin introducing notion of, Mastercoin and Smart Contracts backing DAI multi-collateral token, DAI and blockchain, leading to new platforms for the web, Web 3.0 blockchain systems and unit of account, Storing Data in a Chain of Blocks consensus, Consensus-Alternative methodsother concepts for, Other Concepts for Consensus proof-of-stake, Proof-of-Stake-Proof-of-Stake proof-of-work, Proof-of-Work-Confirmations cryptographic hashes, Hashes-Custody: Who Holds the Keys custody, Custody: Who Holds the Keys-Security Fundamentals ICOs or fundraising for projects, Use Cases: ICOs illegal uses of, Catch Me If You Can methods of buying and selling, Evolution of the Price of Bitcoin mining, Mining-Block Generation privacy-focused, Privacy-Focused Cryptocurrencies public and private keys in systems, Public and Private Keys in Cryptocurrency Systems-Public and Private Keys in Cryptocurrency Systems regulatory bodies in the US, FinCEN Guidance and the Beginning of Regulation security, Security Fundamentals-Recovery Seed stablecoins based on, Crypto-Based Stablecoins-Tether stakeholders in ecosystem, Stakeholders-Informationanalytics services, Analytics brokerages, Brokerages custody solutions, Custody exchanges, Exchanges information services, Information theft from ownersexchange hacks, Exchange Hacks-NiceHash other hacks, Other Hacks-Summary transactions in, Transactions-Bitcoin Transaction Security UTXO model for Bitcoin transactions, The UTXO Model-The UTXO Model cryptocurrency ATMs, Evolution of the Price of Bitcoin CryptoCurrency eXchange Trading Library (CCXT), Open Source Trading Tech cryptographyBitcoin's use on transactions, Introducing the Timestamp Server cryptographic hashes, Hashes-Custody: Who Holds the Keys ECDSA encryption, signing and verifying transactions, Signing and Validating Transactions enabling proof-of-work on Hashcash, Hashcash public/private key, Bitcoin's use of, Public/private key cryptography-Generating keys use by DigiCash, DigiCash CryptoKitties, ERC-721-ERC-777causing scaling problems on Ethereum, Challenges in Developing Dapps digital cats as nonfungible tokens, Fungible and Nonfungible Tokens CryptoLocker and ransomware, CryptoLocker and Ransomware CryptoNote protocol, Monero currencies, exchanges for, Exchanges(see also exchanges) custodial wallets, Wallet Types: Custodial Versus Noncustodial(see also wallets) custody, Custody: Who Holds the Keys-Security Fundamentalscounterparty risk with exchanges, Counterparty Risk, Custody and counterparty risk crypto custody solutions, Custody custody providers, Counterparty Risk cyberbucks, DigiCash D DAGs (directed acyclic graphs), DAGs DAI stablecoin, DAIsavings rates for, Savings Dai, Wei, B-Money DAML, DAML DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations), Decentralized Autonomous Organizations-Other Ethereum forks, Important DefinitionsThe DAO project on Ethereum, Initial Coin Offerings dapps (see decentralized applications) Dash, Dash database management systems (DBMSs), Databases and Ledgers databasesbackend/database differences between centralized exchanges and Uniswap, Infrastructure and ledgers, Databases and Ledgers decentralizationversus centralization, Decentralization Versus Centralization decentralizing the web, Web 3.0 distributed versus centralized versus decentralized systems, Distributed Versus Centralized Versus Decentralized-Bitcoin Predecessors decentralized applications (dapps), Ether and Gas, Decentralized Applications (Dapps)-Challenges in Developing Dappsbuilding decentralized web frameworks, Web 3.0 challenges in developing, Challenges in Developing Dapps Corda, Corda language running on top of a blockchain, Deploying and Executing Smart Contracts in Ethereum use cases, Use Cases decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), Decentralized Autonomous Organizations-Other Ethereum forks, Important DefinitionsThe DAO project on Ethereum, Initial Coin Offerings decentralized exchange contracts, Decentralized Exchange Contracts-Summary decentralized exchanges, The Role of Exchanges, Decentralized Exchanges-Scalabilityversus centralized exchanges, Decentralized Versus Centralized Exchanges-Scalabilitycustody and counterparty risk, Custody and counterparty risk exchange rate, Exchange rate infrastructure, Infrastructure Know Your Customer (KYC) rules, Know your customer scalability, Scalability token listing, Token listing decentralized finance (DeFi), Decentralizing Finance and the Web-Derivativesflash loans, Flash Loans-The Fulcrum Exploitcreating the flash loan smart contract, Creating a Flash Loan Contract-Deploying the Contract deploying the contract, Deploying the Contract executing a loan, Executing a Flash Loan-Executing a Flash Loan Fulcrum attack, The Fulcrum Exploit important definitions, Important Definitions privacy and information security, Privacy-Ring Signaturesring signatures, Ring Signatures Zcash, Zcash zero-knowledge proof, Zero-Knowledge Proof zk-SNARKs, zk-SNARKs redistribution of trust, Redistribution of Trust-Naming Servicesidentity and dangers of hacking, Identity and the Dangers of Hacking naming services, Naming Services services, DeFi Services-Derivativesderivatives, Derivatives lending, Lending savings, Savings stablecoins, Stablecoins-KYC and pseudonymity traditional versus decentralized financial system, Decentralizing Finance DeFI Pulse website, DeFi Services delegated proof-of-stake, Alternative methods deposit contracts, Ethereum Scaling depth charts, Depth Chartssell wall on, Whales derivatives, Derivativesin decentralized finance, Derivatives derivatives exchanges, The Role of Exchanges desktop wallets, Wallet Type Variations DEXes (see decentralized exchanges; exchanges) dictionary attacks on passwords, Zero-Knowledge Proof difficulty of discovering valid block hash, Block discovery DigiCash, DigiCash digital bonds, Banking digital money, Bitcoin Predecessors(see also cryptocurrencies) creation of, in B-Money, B-Money use of hashing to limit double spend, Hashcash digital signaturesmultisignature system, Hash Time Locked Contracts, Lightning Schnorr algorithm, Privacy signing transactions, Signing and Validating Transactions Digix, Digix directed acyclic graphs (DAGs), DAGs disintermediation, Identity and the Dangers of Hacking distributed ledger technology (DLT), Databases and Ledgers distributed systems, Decentralized Applications (Dapps)Bitcoin, Compelling Components distributed versus centralized versus decentralized systems, Distributed Versus Centralized Versus Decentralized-Bitcoin Predecessors Dogecoin, More Altcoin Experiments Domain Name System (DNS), decentralized version of, Altcoins dot-com crash, Tulip Mania or the internet? double spend problem, Hashcashin Satoshi Nakamoto's whitepaper, The Whitepaper dumping of a cryptocurrency, Wash Trading E E-gold, E-Gold EEA (Enterprise Ethereum Alliance), The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance Elements open source project, Liquid Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) encrytionsecp256k1 function, Public and Private Keys in Cryptocurrency Systems signing and validating transactions with, Signing and Validating Transactions Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) secp256k1 function, Generating keys Enigma, Skirting the Laws, Privacy enterprise blockchains, Enterprise Implementations-DAMLCorda, Corda-Corda language DAML, DAML Hyperledger platform, Hyperledger zero-knowledge proofs used in, Zero-Knowledge Proof Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance EOS, Blockchains to Watchorigins of, Tokenize Everything ERC-20 token standard, Tokens on the Ethereum Platform, ERC-20-ERC-20creating your own custom token, ERC-20 DeFi's reliance on Ethereum and ERC-20 assets, Decentralizing Finance events supported by ERC-20 compliant smart contracts, ERC-20 example of ERC-20 smart contract, ERC-20-ERC-20 listing of tokens on Uniswap, Token listing methods, ERC-20 push and pull transactions to move tokens, ERC-777 wrapped tokens outside of Ethereum ecosystem, Important Definitions ERC-721 token standard, Fungible and Nonfungible Tokens, ERC-721-ERC-777 ether, Ether and Gasdenominations of, Gas and Pricing EtherDelta redirection, EtherDelta Redirection Ethereum, The Evolution to Ethereum-Summaryblock times, Float Configuration 2 cost of storing data on, Tokenize Everything decentralized applications (dapps), Decentralized Applications (Dapps)-Challenges in Developing Dapps decentralized exchange, IDEX, Decentralized Exchange Contracts DeFi's reliance on Ethereum and ERC-20 assets, Decentralizing Finance deploying and executing smart contracts, Deploying and Executing Smart Contracts in Ethereum-Interacting with CodeEthereum Virtual Machine (EVM), The Ethereum Virtual Machine-Gas and Pricing Ethereum Classic fork, The Ethereum Classic Fork Etherscan analytics service, Analytics improving Bitcoin's limited functionality, Improving Bitcoin’s Limited Functionality-Ethereum: Taking Mastercoin to the Next Level improving Bitcoin's lmited functionalitycolored coins and tokens, Colored Coins and Tokens Mastercoin and smart contracts, Mastercoin and Smart Contracts Omni Layer, Understanding Omni Layer-Adding custom logic Keccak-256 hash algorithm, Hashes maximum transaction rate, Scalability origins of, Tokenize Everything privacy implementations based on, Ethereum-Based Privacy Implementations scaling in Ethereum 2.0, Ethereum Scaling-Ethereum Scaling scaling solutions, Other Altchain Solutions taking Mastercoin to the next level, Ethereum: Taking Mastercoin to the Next Level-ConsenSysdecentralized autonomous organizations, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations-Other Ethereum forks ether and gas, Ether and Gas key organizations in ecosystem, Key Organizations in the Ethereum Ecosystem use cases, ICOs, Use Cases: ICOs tokenize everything via ICOs, Tokenize Everything tokens on, Tokens on the Ethereum Platform-Different Token Typesairdrops and, Airdrops deciding whether a token is necessary, Is a Token Necessary?

The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance
by Eswar S. Prasad
Published 27 Sep 2021

The price and market capitalization date for Jesus Coin are from “Jesus Coin,” CoinGecko, https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/jesuscoin/historical_data/usd?end_date=2021-01-02&start_date=2016-01-01#panel. See https://dogecoin.com/ for more information on the provenance of Dogecoin and to sign up. Price and market capitalization figures for Dogecoin are from https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/dogecoin/. See Ryan Browne, “Tweets from Elon Musk and Other Celebrities Send Dogecoin to a Record High,” CNBC, February 8, 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/08/tweets-from-elon-musk-and-celebrities-send-dogecoin-to-a-record-high.html. The story about how Meme coin came to be and Lyall’s quote on the matter can be found in Mathew Di Salvo, “How an Anti-Meme Coin Joke Backfired into a $1.2 Million Meme Coin,” Decrypt, August 15, 2020, https://decrypt.co/38887/an-anti-meme-coin-joke-just-led-to-a-1-2-million-meme-coin.

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Based on the popular “Doge” internet meme and featuring a Shiba Inu (a Japanese breed of dog) as its mascot, Dogecoin (DOGE) is a cryptocurrency that was forked from Litecoin in December 2013. Dogecoin has been used primarily as a tipping system on Reddit and Twitter to reward the creation or sharing of quality content. Its creators had envisioned it as “a fun, light-hearted cryptocurrency that would have greater appeal beyond the core Bitcoin audience.” From its inception until April 2017, Dogecoin’s market capitalization was under $30 million, already a sizable figure for a whimsical cryptocurrency.

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Then the price took off, and the market capitalization peaked at $1.9 billion on January 7, 2018. It fell back sharply after that, but not quite back to earth, with a still astonishing market capitalization of $580 million as of December 2020. That was not it, however. A series of supportive tweets from Elon Musk, who referred to it approvingly as “the people’s crypto,” then helped push Dogecoin’s market capitalization briefly above $90 billion in early May 2021! Struck by the absurdity of such meme coins, in August 2020 a programmer named Jordan Lyall introduced the Degenerator, a phony project that supposedly allowed anyone to create their own DeFi project in less than five minutes. To Lyall’s shock and dismay, a meme coin called Meme, based on his joke, was created a few hours later.

Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud
by Ben McKenzie and Jacob Silverman
Published 17 Jul 2023

On September 7, 2021, for example, when El Salvador introduced Bitcoin as a form of legal tender, a market-wide slide led to a number of exchanges reporting transaction delays and other problems. Similarly, Binance users have reported regular technical issues, with Tesla chief executive Elon Musk publicly criticizing the exchange for an issue that prevented traders from withdrawing Dogecoin for at least two weeks in November of 2021. (A Binance representative said that “the Dogecoin withdrawal issue was an unlikely and unfortunate coincidence for Binance and the DOGE network,” and pointed out that “the technical issue was resolved.”) On the other side of the world, in Toronto, Fawaz Ahmed, a thirty-three-year-old trader, was having the same experience as Kim, but from the opposite end of the gamble.

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In its public filings, Tesla revealed that it had lost hundreds of millions of dollars on its crypto investments. Elon Musk, the supposed genius billionaire who had gone on Saturday Night Live the year before and promoted Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency he admitted was “a hustle,” had apparently been hustled himself. (Musk was simultaneously in the midst of receiving the most expensive lesson in contract law in history with his ill-conceived bid for Twitter.) Everyone was suing everyone. Musk was the main defendant in a $258 billion pump-and-dump lawsuit filed by an aggrieved Dogecoin investor, contending that his SNL appearance amounted to market manipulation. The supposed crypto “community” splintered into thousands of beefing factions.

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Yet the fairy tale of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as a decentralized grassroots movement continued to thrive, because it was more romantic than the reality: A lot of projects, many of them funded by venture capitalists or traditional titans of finance, competing against one another to take your bets. Under this arrangement, buying Dogecoin on a crypto exchange like Binance was indeed an act of trustlessness, but only in the sense that it was hard to trust any offshore crypto entity. Most crypto investors were effectively putting their trust in the people running FTX, Binance, Bitfinex, or any one of the more than 500 exchanges in existence by 2022.

Bitcoin: The Future of Money?
by Dominic Frisby
Published 1 Nov 2014

‘It’s only a matter of time’, says journalist Victoria McNally, ‘before this discussion becomes all-out war in the style of GIF vs JIF.’53 In a reference to the much-loved 1993 comedy Cool Runnings, the Dogecoin community raised the funds to send the Jamaican bobsled team to the 2014 Winter Olympics. They then did the same for an Indian luge contender Shiva Keshavan. He would become the 2014 Winter Olympics ‘underdoge’. The community raised money earlier in the year for a water charity in Kenya. One person was able to donate $14,000 worth of coins with one tweet. The implications of that kind of ease of payment are enormous. Underlying Dogecoin, as well as technological advances, is a generosity of spirit. Long may the spirit continue. 5 How a Computer Nerd became the FBI’s Most Wanted Drug Dealer ‘You’d make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts.’

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It has faster transaction time confirmation than Bitcoin, making it a better system of payment. It also claims its storage efficiency is better. Like Litecoin, Dogecoin also has faster transaction time confirmation. It is a more inflationary system – there is no limit to supply and it has a faster coin production schedule. Its primary use has been for online tipping and fundraising – you see something you like, you give them some dogecoins. Some coins have been developed which are more private and anonymous. Darkcoin is currently the most famous of these. Transactions are pooled together in its block chain, so they cannot be traced back to individual wallets.

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It has become a free-for-all, like the gold rushes of the Wild West. Over time, things should settle. But one of the things you quickly notice is the sense of humour to it all. Many altcoins are based around a joke – ‘Coinye West’, for example. (When my father read this he asked, ‘What’s the joke?’) Many are simply in it for the laugh. Dogecoin is, according to its website, ‘an open source peer-to-peer cryptocurrency, favored by Shiba Inus worldwide’. (Shibu Inus are petite Japanese dogs that have a surprised look on their faces.) The currency is, apparently, based on an internet meme about a dog’s inner thoughts. This has led to a heated discussion about the pronunciation of the word ‘doge’.

Kings of Crypto: One Startup's Quest to Take Cryptocurrency Out of Silicon Valley and Onto Wall Street
by Jeff John Roberts
Published 15 Dec 2020

• • • Lempres pushed a plan for Coinbase to split into two legal entities—one that did business in heavily regulated places like the United States and another that offered dozens of cryptocurrencies while operating from a regulatory haven like Bermuda. The plan went nowhere, and well into 2018, Coinbase stumbled along with the same four currencies. Longtime engineer Craig Hammell recalls a plan for the company to add Dogecoin, the novelty currency based around the Shiba Inu dog meme in which an adorable pup speaks silly phrases in broken English. Dogecoin had a cult following and would have been easy enough to add in the old days. But with Coinbase’s new layers of corporate bureaucracy, it stalled. “We were going to do it,” Hammell remembers, “but then it went into all these meetings where someone said they didn’t see a return on investment.

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Murck and an oddball assortment of other bitcoin advocates had launched the foundation as a sort of crypto chamber of commerce, pushing to bestow an air of respectability on Satoshi’s creation. It was not just bitcoin flourishing. Other cryptocurrencies had emerged with fan bases of their own and, like bitcoin, could be exchanged for real-world money. These included Litecoin, the offshoot of bitcoin created by Coinbase’s Charlie Lee, but also off-the-wall creations like Dogecoin—a novelty currency inspired by a feel-good meme about a Shiba Inu dog, but which nonetheless became worth tens of millions in real-world dollars. Meanwhile, a visionary pro-grammer named Jed McCaleb, who’d founded the world’s biggest crypto exchange, helped launch a versatile currency called Ripple before hatching another one called Stellar.

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And in a move that underscored CZ’s sweeping ambitions, Binance laid plans to challenge Ethereum. Vitalik’s smart contract platform was still top dog when it came to hosting other cryptocurrencies—even Binance Coin relied on Ethereum—but CZ concluded it was too slow. The time had come, he decided, for Binance to build its own blockchain. While Coinbase was dithering over Dogecoin, CZ was laying plans to remake the next era of crypto. His exploits made him a cult figure in the industry. An effusive profile in the trade publication Coindesk blared without a hint of irony: “The Unbelievable Brilliance of Binance.” Was CZ as brilliant as all that? Possibly. But some people attribute the rapid rise of Binance at least in part to the hubris of Coinbase and its investors.

On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything
by Nate Silver
Published 12 Aug 2024

Propping it up was inherently kind of funny—an “OK boomer” meme brought to life. The next level of ridiculousness beyond GameStop was Dogecoin—a cryptocurrency that was deliberately created to be silly. Billy Markus, the cofounder of Dogecoin, told me he was trying to gently poke fun at crypto at a time when “the primary utility of cryptocurrency, in 2013, was to buy drugs anonymously on Silk Road or gamble illegally on the internet.” Markus said that it would have taken him only ten minutes to complete the programming for Dogecoin—but he spent a couple hours to customize the images (“doge” is a deliberate misspelling of “dog,” sometimes associated with pictures of a cute Japanese dog named Kabosu) and fonts (Comic Sans).

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Markus said that it would have taken him only ten minutes to complete the programming for Dogecoin—but he spent a couple hours to customize the images (“doge” is a deliberate misspelling of “dog,” sometimes associated with pictures of a cute Japanese dog named Kabosu) and fonts (Comic Sans). And yet, Dogecoin went viral, gaining acclaim with r/wallstreetbets traders and Elon Musk. Valued at $0.00026 shortly after its creation in 2013, it eventually reached a peak of $0.74 in May 2021—a roughly 3,000x increase. In theory, companies like Apple and Google are occasionally supposed to produce a 3,000x return based on creating revolutionary consumer technologies that are adopted all around the world. It’s not supposed to happen to shitcoins[*6] featuring a cartoon doge. Markus, whose day job is making educational software, sold his Dogecoins and the rest of his crypto for about $10,000 after losing his job in 2015.

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But in this case, Buterin wasn’t just making a standard political putdown. Instead, he was suggesting that Bitcoin—like a religion—depends deeply on the idea of belief. Fundamentally, Bitcoin isn’t that different from a shitcoin like Dogecoin; neither of them have any of the value-added functionality of Ethereum. But far more people believe in Bitcoin than believe in Dogecoin and are willing to trade it or accept it as payment. “The epistemic part of the religion is basically a self-fulfilling prophecy, right?” said Buterin. “Like if you can actually get enough people to believe in and buy in—it could literally become true.”

MegaThreats: Ten Dangerous Trends That Imperil Our Future, and How to Survive Them
by Nouriel Roubini
Published 17 Oct 2022

Karrie Gordon, “Commissioner Berkovitz Questioning the Legality of DeFi,” Crypto Channel, June 15, 2021, https://etfdb.com/crypto-channel/commissioner-berkovitz-questioning-legality-defi/. 30. Taylor Locke, “The Co-Creator of Dogecoin Explains Why He Doesn’t Plan to Return to Crypto,” Make It, CNBC, July 14, 2021, https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/07/14/dogecoin-co-creator-jackson-palmer-criticizes-the-crypto-industry.html. 31. “Silicon Valley Payments Firm Stripe Buys Nigerian Startup Paystack,” Reuters, October 15, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-paystack-m-a-stripe/silicon-valley-payments-firm-stripe-buys-nigerian-startup-paystack-idUSKBN27024G. 32.

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Using BaconCoin, LoanSnap aims to revolutionize home buying by sharing mortgages via the blockchain that can etch every transaction from day one.20 The first such mortgages changed hands in late 2021. Once inscribed on a blockchain visible to every user, new transactions update the status quo but, in principle, no one can alter or hack what occurred in the past. The rush to DeFi is premature and ultimately misguided. The rapid rise of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and thousands of fledgling cryptocurrencies since 2010 exposes our collective wilting faith in the ability of governments to back the money they issue. But elevating crypto to the status of legitimate currencies endorses a dangerous precedent that is most likely to fail miserably. Fabio Panetta, member of the European Central Bank executive board, gave a sober update in December 2021.

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But in a crypto world of “tokenization,” if I need a Pepsi coin to buy a Pepsi-Cola and a Coke coin to buy a Coca-Cola, I cannot calculate their relative value. So in an important sense, the stone-age Flintstones had a more sophisticated monetary system than crypto with shells as the single numeraire. In crypto land, the dollar must serve as a reference. Without it, no one can compare the value of bitcoins, ethers, dogecoins or any other crypto substitute, much less use them to set prices for goods and services. One of the alleged features of crypto touted by its enthusiasts is that no one can monkey around with the money supply. There is an absolute lid on the issuance of bitcoins: issuance will end after 21 million coins are created or “mined.”

The Revolution That Wasn't: GameStop, Reddit, and the Fleecing of Small Investors
by Spencer Jakab
Published 1 Feb 2022

“There was no face to the name—he was just a mythical dude. He became an idolized figure,” says Seth Mahoney, a college student and active Robinhood customer who was twenty years old and had been on WallStreetBets for three years and Reddit for nine years at the time of the GameStop squeeze. “He’s one of those leaders, like Elon Musk with Dogecoin.”[4] By the time he was at the height of his influence, Gill was only posting memes or updates of his E*Trade account. Yet those screenshots took on a powerful importance as the trade became successful, explains Dr. Jay Van Bavel, a psychologist at New York University attached to its Social Identity and Morality Lab.

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tweet, which included a link to WallStreetBets in case you failed to get it, didn’t violate any laws. Except perhaps indirectly, he wasn’t seeking to personally enrich himself by egging on the Reddit revolutionaries—just to endear himself to them. Some later tweets helping to drum up interest in Dogecoin, which he owned, might have been a different story, legally speaking, if the cryptocurrency were an actual registered security. A former Facebook executive and chief executive officer of the investment firm Social Capital, which had launched several blank check companies snapped up by retail investors, Palihapitiya benefited more directly from a bit of Twitter mischief on the same day.

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If Musk’s tweets were for sale and compensating him for them directly were legal, they would fetch multiples of what people helping to hawk handbags and energy drinks receive because value can be created and turned into cash instantly in the stock or cryptocurrency markets. That can make even inadvertent statements by Musk market-shaking events. When he made a comment on Saturday Night Live that Dogecoin, which he had touted, was “a hustle,” tens of billions of dollars in value evaporated in the cryptocurrency market, and Robinhood’s trading system was overwhelmed the next day with activity. Even the most innocuous social media post was dynamite around the time of the meme-stock squeeze. Ryan Cohen tweeted a picture of a McDonald’s ice cream cone in late February and a by-then deflated GameStop stock doubled that day on huge turnover.

Bit by Bit: How P2P Is Freeing the World
by Jeffrey Tucker
Published 7 Jan 2015

Or it could have been outright fraud. Or denial. Regardless, lawsuits are pending. What we can do now is be careful not to trust any institution fully. Security for your property is at a premium until the market shakes itself out. Question: What is Dogecoin? Tell me about it. Answer: It’s very cool, or maybe it is a silly fad. The market has to decide. Dogecoin is one of many currencies built on a Litecoin protocol, which in turn was built on bitcoin. There are tens of thousands of so-called altcoins in circulation today. This is market competition at work. They all live in their own ecosphere. May the best coin win!

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This is part of what happens in any startup technology. Question: Can you tell me about one or two popular altcoins? How are they different? Will they replace bitcoin? Answer: Litecoin is the second most popular cryptocurrency. It is based on a different algorithm from bitcoin, and it has an infinite inflation rate. Others include Namecoin, Dogecoin, Worldcoin, Peercoin, Primecoin, and Feathercoin. All have unique properties and some appeal to people for specific reasons. The Indian nation of Lakota, for example, uses its own coin called Mazacoin. 41 The cryptocurrency market is still in its infancy. There is no way to predict its precise direction.

The Internet of Money
by Andreas M. Antonopoulos
Published 28 Aug 2016

They only know that within their local community, it has purchasing power. As a little fanciful thought: Imagine a decade from now, in a rural village detached from developed-nations, villagers exchanging two currencies. One has a Shiba Inu, a Japanese breed of dog, on the front and is pronounced Dogecoin. I’m not quite sure how to pronounce it and it doesn’t really matter, but you can buy half a dozen eggs with it. The other villagers are trading another currency that has an old white lady named Elizabeth on it. They have no idea who Elizabeth is. They don’t know why she got her picture on the coin.

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We’re going to start treating currency as an application, and in order to do that we’re going to need interfaces that allow us a unified currency experience, that allow us to have a single wallet with perhaps 150 different currencies in it. Because of inventions like sidechains, decentralized exchanges, fluid liquid systems and the complete absence of monopoly, of lock-in, of hostage situations around the currency, we will be able to instantaneously and at very low cost convert from bitcoin to Namecoin to Dogecoin to Ethereum. If we can do that, then it doesn’t matter because we won’t do that; our unified wallet interface will do that, by trying to see what we’re trying to achieve with our currency. If I’m buying a house, it might express my transactional will in the modality of bitcoin because that is the most suitable currency.

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Index Currency There’s a very real possibility we’re going to have an index currency: a currency that is not in itself tradable, that has no intrinsic use as a transactional commodity, but instead is only used to express the purchasing power vis-a-vis the various coins in our wallets. I may have a thousand unified currency units. You can’t buy unified currency units. You can buy bitcoin and then you can tell me how many unified currency units that is. I price everything in unified currency units, and then I pay in Dogecoin or Namecoin or bitcoin or Ether, depending on how I want to use it. "I can see a world in which we can smoothly move between currencies in a multimodal way." We already do this in financial markets. In fact, you can trade S&P 500. You’re not buying a single company; what you’re buying into is the aggregation of all of the different things that are in the stock market as an expression of the total value of the market.

Breaking Twitter: Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History
by Ben Mezrich
Published 6 Nov 2023

Steve Davis, on the other hand, appeared still fully on board, the leading acolyte in the cult of Elon, and more and more, Esther found herself at odds with the jittery businessman. One such interaction had led to fireworks. Esther had been asked to find a way to add the crypto Dogecoin to Twitter’s payment structure. Dogecoin was a form of digital currency that had been created as a joke, meant to mock the crypto industry, yet had become a popular “memecoin” after Elon had supported it on Twitter. Esther had demurred, writing up a document on why it would be foolish to add a form of payment as volatile and rife for manipulation as Doge to Twitter.

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The event would draw thousands of attendees and highlight upcoming products such as the Cybertruck, a robotaxi, and a humanoid robot called Optimist. Musk would take the stage in a black cowboy hat after a drone show in which the sky would explode with images including physicist Nikola Tesla, the Model Y, and the canine mascot of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin. The theatrics, and Giga Texas itself, were signature Elon: dramatic, bold, satiric, and tending a little bit toward madness. But beneath the spectacle lay something serious—another step forward in the entrepreneur’s goal to revolutionize the auto industry. Not only would Giga Texas produce sustainable electric vehicles—with a goal of a million cars a year, and a finished car every forty-five seconds—the facility itself was equipped with a solar panel system and Powerpack batteries, making it a showcase for the company’s clean energy vision.

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By the next day, the beginning of the weekend, Elon expressed his frustration the way he often had in the past: he’d launched a fiery tweetstorm to his now over eighty million followers. He’d started by posting a poll, a vote on whether or not Twitter should turn its San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter. He’d followed that tweet with a comment about Twitter Blue, the platform’s subscription service, suggesting that users should be allowed to pay for Blue with Dogecoin, and in turn receive one of the precious blue “authentication checkmarks” that were normally reserved for celebrities, journalists, politicians, and other notables. “Everyone who signs up for Twitter Blue (pays 3$/month) should get an authentication checkmark, and no ads,” he’d tweeted. “The power of corporations to dictate policy is greatly enhanced if Twitter depends on advertising money to survive.”

You've Been Played: How Corporations, Governments, and Schools Use Games to Control Us All
by Adrian Hon
Published 14 Sep 2022

https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/” Twitter, January 26, 2021, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1354174279894642703; Dorothy Gambrell, “A Brief History of Elon Musk’s Recent Market-Moving Tweets,” Bloomberg, February 11, 2021, www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-11/how-elon-musk-s-tweets-moved-gamestop-gme-bitcoin-dogecoin-and-other-stocks. 80. Matt Levine, “AMC Brings Out the Popcorn,” Bloomberg, June 2, 2021, www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-06-02/amc-brings-out-the-popcorn. 81. Matt Levine, “Elon Musk Picks the Money Now,” Bloomberg, February 8, 2021, www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-02-08/elon-musk-works-his-magic-on-dogecoin-and-bitcoin. 82. Caitlin Petre, “The Traffic Factories: Metrics at Chartbeat, Gawker Media, and the New York Times,” Columbia Journalism Review, May 7, 2015, www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/the_traffic_factories_metrics_at_chartbeat_gawker_media_and_the_new_york_times.php. 83.

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No doubt some Robinhood users have discovered the attractions of comparatively safe long-term investing via index funds thanks to the app’s simplified interface. But Robinhood’s vision of the stock market they want to democratise isn’t a world of buy-and-hold but a world of nonstop trading where leverage is easy to obtain and fortunes are to be made and lost in hours and minutes. Users trading Dogecoin cryptocurrency alone contributed a whopping 6 percent of the company’s entire revenue during the first quarter of 2021. To Robinhood, the stock market is a game, and they want everyone to play.57 Since Robinhood offers commission-free trading, it uses another way to make money called “payment for order flow” (PFOF).58 This mechanism is not especially unusual, but because PFOF means Robinhood gets paid whenever a user makes a trade, the company is strongly incentivised to encourage its users to make as many trades as possible.59 Perhaps this is why the secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts charged Robinhood for the “use of strategies such as gamification to encourage and entice continuous and repetitive use of its trading application” in late 2020.60 Robinhood and gamification have been linked many times, and one of the most influential was in a memo for members of the House Financial Services Committee preceding their February 2021 hearing.61 The reason for the hearing?

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Social media’s ability to focus and amplify attention means that indiscretions that once might have taken entire hours or days to be published or broadcast (or not, if deemed insufficiently newsworthy) can now race around the world in minutes—long before the subject can calm down enough to apologise. The same sped-up dynamics were at work in the GameStop short squeeze when Elon Musk tweeted “Gamestonk!!” on January 26, 2021, to over forty-two million followers, leading to an instant jump in the share price, which closed that day up 92 percent.79 Musk’s other tweets about Bitcoin, Etsy, and Dogecoin have all led to price increases. Even companies that were only nominally related to his tweets saw share price jumps, like Signal Advance, Inc. (after he tweeted “Use Signal,” an app operated by an unrelated organisation) and Clubhouse Media Group (after he talked about the Clubhouse app, also run by a different company).

The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest
by Edward Chancellor
Published 15 Aug 2022

The price of Bitcoin climbed nearly tenfold (between January 2020 and April 2021), its market capitalization exceeding $1 trillion for the first time. This performance was nothing compared to lesser-known cryptos. Originally conceived as a spoof on Bitcoin, Dogecoin’s price rose nearly 150-fold. Not to be outdone, a spoof on Dogecoin, called Shiba Inu, did even better. A digital collage, transferred in electronic form as a ‘nonfungible token’ or NFT, sold at Christie’s for $69 million. An NFT containing a Dogecoin image was split into fractional shares and valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. An Italian conceptual artist went further by auctioning an ‘immaterial sculpture’ that consisted of, well, nothing.9 Never had wealth been so virtual.

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In a year-end letter to clients, Klarman wrote that: The idea of persistent low rates has wormed its way into everything: investor thinking, market forecasts, inflation expectations, valuation models, leverage ratios, debt ratings, affordability metrics, housing prices, and corporate behavior … Moreover, by truncating downside volatility, forestalling business failures, and postponing the day of reckoning, such policies have persuaded investors that risk has gone into hibernation or simply vanished.10 Warren Buffett agreed that ultra-high valuations were supported by ultra-low interest rates. ‘Interest rates,’ said the Sage of Omaha, ‘basically are to the value of assets what gravity is to matter.’fn1 Once this gravitational force was removed, Dogecoins, NFTs, meme stocks and other speculative assets were free to float into the stratosphere. A disconnect between finance and the real world lies at the heart of all great bubbles. Defoe described John Law’s Mississippi System as ‘an inconceivable Species of meer Air and Shadow … making the meer speculations of Things, act all the Parts, and perform all the Offices of the Things themselves’.

…

W., 72 Charles II, King of England, 33, 38 Chase National Bank, 87, 88 Chaumont, the Widow, 54–5 Child, Sir Josiah, xxii, 33–4, 35, 36–7, 37*, 38–40, 41, 43, 44, 202 China: authoritarian relapse in recent years, 288–9; back-alley banking, 281–3; capital controls in, 262, 266, 285; capital flight from, 285–6; and ‘commodity super-cycle (from 2010), 173–4, 255–6; corporate zombies in, 277, 281, 285, 289; corruption in, 270, 274, 275, 287–8, 287*; currency devaluation (2015), 227; debt-deflation in, 280–81; Deng’s reform era, 265, 266, 267; and digital currencies concept, 294; economic stimulus plan (2008/9), 270, 271–81, 282, 289, 292; export driven expansion, 132, 182, 267–70; and financial repression, 264–5, 265*, 266–81, 268*, 283, 286–9, 292; foreign capital inflows, 254–5, 256, 265–6, 267, 270, 270*; garlic bulb bubble, 173, 271, 282; ‘great divergence’ from West, 288; growing inequality in, 287–8, 287†; high occurrence of elevator accidents, 274, 274*; high-speed rail expansion, 275; housing boom during Covid pandemic, 310; increased share of world trade, 260; ‘iron rice bowl’ removed, 268; joins WTO (2001), 267; as leading producer of greenhouse gases, 277–8; long tradition of impressive investments, 276; ‘national team’ of state enterprises, 272, 272*; and new technologies, 177, 276, 283, 284; paper money invented in, 265; ‘Red Capitalism’, 280, 284, 292; savings/current account surpluses, 129, 268–9, 270; ‘shadow banks’ in, 266, 270, 282*, 283–5, 286; SHIBOR lending rate, 284; and taper tantrum (June 2013), 256, 284; treatment of Uighurs, 288; Trump’s trade wars with, 262; uncoordinated investment in, 266, 269, 270, 272–4, 275–9, 280–81; undervalued exchange rate, 267–8, 270, 271; unscrupulous vested interests, 270, 286–9; unstable bubbles in, 270, 271–4, 282, 288; unsustainable debt in, 270, 279–81, 282–5, 289; US loss of manufacturing jobs to, 261, 261*; vast investment boom in, xxiii, 128, 267–81, 280*, 282–9; wealth management product (WMP), 283–4; Wenzhou’s credit crunch (2011), 282–3 Chu, Charlene, 280 Citigroup, 232† Clapham, Sir John, 79 Clarida, Richard, 310 classical economists, 12, 14, 27–8, 31, 41, 85*, 130–31, 132–3, 183 see also Smith, Adam Clifford & Sons, 63 climate change, 255, 277–8 cloth trade, 14–15, 22, 23 Cobham, Thomas of, 19–20, 26 Coffin, Charles, 156 Cole, Christopher, 229*, 231 collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), 116, 227 collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), 227 Commerzbank, Germany, 245 compound interest, xvii, 8–9, 190, 200, 202 Conard, Joseph, 141* Connally, John, 251, 262 Consols (British bonds), 62–3, 65, 65†, 70, 77, 79, 80, 126 Conti, Louis Armand II, Prince of, 55 Coolidge, Calvin, 87, 92–3 corporate sector: benefits of low interest rates for, xxii; the financialized firm, 166–7; ‘good will’ on balance sheets, 169, 180; profits bubble in post-crisis USA, 183, 185, 211; ‘shareholder value’ philosophy, 163–6, 167, 170–71 corruption, 63, 258, 274, 275, 287*, 288; in China, 270, 274, 275, 287–8, 287*; Galbraith coins ‘bezzle’ term, 287 Coughlin, Father Charles, 242 Coupe, Mike, 160 ‘coveitise’, practice of, 24 Covid-19 pandemic, xxii, 224*, 304, 305–7, 309–10 Cowen, Tyler, 198 Coxey’s Army, 201 credit: in ancient Near East, 3, 5–10, 11, 15; and Borio’s financial cycle, 132, 134, 135; causes of booms, 42, 43, 44, 118, 176–7, 220; central bank dominion over markets, xxii, 292–3, 293*; collapse in quality in post-crisis decade, 222–4, 231, 233, 237–8; decline in quality during booms, 112, 116, 135–6; Defoe on, 28; emergence of modern credit cycle, 62–4; expansion in 1920s USA, 87–91, 92–4, 96–8, 112, 203; growth before 2008 crisis, 112–13, 114, 115, 116; Law’s credit theory, 47, 60; in medieval Italy, 22–3, 35; poor quality in expanding China, 266; as pre-dating barter, 3, 14; psychological elements, 64; rationing under Bretton Woods system, 291; strong growth of as red flag, 132, 135; unequal access to, xxii, xxv, 14, 15, 215; vast investment boom in China, xxiii, 128, 267–81, 280*, 282–9; Wenzhou’s credit crunch (2011), 282–3 Credit Suisse, 229 Creditanstalt, collapse of (1931), 93, 93*, 243, 261 Cruz, Gaspar da, 276 cryptocurrencies, 173, 177–9, 307–8, 312 Culpeper, Sir Thomas, the Younger, 34–5, 44 Culpeper, Sir Thomas, ‘Tract Against Usury’ (1621), 34, 35 Cyprus, 262 Dalio, Ray, 217, 229, 291 Datini, Francesco, 21–3, 24 Dawes Loan (1924), 91 Deaton, Angus, 213 debt: after 2008 crisis, 138–9, 237, 237†; ancient debt tablets, 5–6; ‘balance sheet recessions’, 191; cancellation/jubilees/clean slates, 9, 300; dangers of cheap credit, 32, 44; debt bondage, 5, 9, 18; ‘debt supercycle’, 135; ‘debt trap’, 43, 135, 280; debt-deflation, 98–9, 100, 119, 280–81; debt–service ratio, 135; ‘evergreening’ of bad debts, 136, 145–6, 280; late payment penalties, 10, 14, 25; Lord King on (2019), 304; as missing link in secular stagnation narrative, 135–6, 138–9; mortgage equity withdrawal, 112–13, 191, 205; problem of compound interest, 8–9; Proudhon on, xvii, xviii; revival of subprime market, 215, 221, 224; student debt ‘bubble’, 212, 213; tax structures favour over equity, 164; transferable/heritable in Babylon, 7 deflation: after 1929 Crash, 98–9, 100, 101, 105, 108; Austrian economists’ view of, 100, 101, 105, 113, 133–4; crisis of 2008 revives fears of, 119, 122; debt-deflation, 98–9, 100, 119, 280–81; in early-1920s Britain, 85–6; and Fed’s post-2008 policies, 236–8; ‘forgotten depression’ (1921), 84, 86, 100, 143; and high rates of interest, 42, 43, 64; impact of zombies, 237, 237†; impact on working people, 99–100; in Japan from 1990s, 100–101, 107–8, 114, 119, 135, 136, 145–6, 147, 148, 182, 191, 193; in late nineteenth century, 78–80, 99, 101; in post-Great War period, 84, 85–6; as preoccupation of modern central bankers, xxiii, xxv, 76, 112, 115, 115†, 122; Say’s view of, 99; and Victorian era, 76; view of as good/not harmful, 99–101, 113–14, 132; and Wicksell’s view of interest, 42 Defoe, Daniel, 28, 46, 47, 56, 57, 202, 308 Del Monte Foods, 222 democracy, 293, 293†, 296, 297; the old as largest voting cohort, 211–12; rise of populism, xxii, 299; weakening support for, 299 demographics: ageing societies, 29, 127; ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’, 212; generational impact of 2008 crisis, 211–12, 213; Alvin Hansen on, 126; and interest, xxiv, 10, 12, 126–7, 131, 133; largest voting cohort as old, 211–12; life expectancy statistics, 198, 213; and secular stagnation argument, 125, 126, 129; student debt ‘bubble’, 212, 213; and ‘time preference’ theory, 29 Demosthenes, 18† Deng Xiaoping, 265, 266, 267 Denmark, 242, 244, 245, 247 Deutsche Bank, 147* Dodd, David, 90–91 Dodd–Frank Act (2010), 232 Dogecoin, 308 Dollar Standard, 118, 251–2, 253, 261, 262–3, 267 Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 294 Dotcom bubble, 111–12, 136–7, 176, 204, 206 double-entry bookkeeping, 21–2 Douglas, C. H., 242 Draghi, Mario, 61, 122–3, 145, 146, 147, 240, 293, 305 Drucker, Peter, 163 Dudley, William, 238 Dugas, Laurent, 56 Dumoulin, Charles, 25 Dutch Republic, 13, 33, 35–6, 39, 49, 63, 68 Dutot, Nicholas, 53–4, 57 East India Company, 33, 36–7, 37*, 53, 70 Easterly, William, 189–90 ecological systems, 154–5 economic growth: and Borio’s thinking, 134, 135–9; Brazilian ‘miracle’, 257–8; and ‘bubble economy’ concept, 183–7; during deflationary periods, 100–101; and digital technologies, 127–8, 151–2, 176–7; and Draghi’s policy at ECB, 146–8; and Fed’s easy money policy, 111, 112, 115, 124, 152–3, 182–3, 238; and global interest rates prior to crisis, 118, 135; and globalization, 260–61; in Great Depression era, 142–3; and Hayek, 296, 298; and inequality, 203–6, 216–17, 237, 299; and inflation, 108, 108*; and inflation targeting, 123; in Japan of 1980s, 105–8; in Japan of 1990s, 100–101, 146, 147; led by finance, 266; and meaning of ‘wealth’, 179–82, 193–5; negative impact of building booms, 135–6, 144–5, 148; and Piketty’s theory, 216–17; in post-crisis Iceland, 300–301; productivity collapse in post-crisis decade, 150–51, 152–3; and reduced interest rates after a bubble, 114, 136, 138, 145–6; relation to interest rates, xxiv, xxv, 10, 12, 44, 89, 124–9, 141, 162, 237–8; secular stagnation concept, 77, 124–9, 131, 132–9, 151, 205–6; slow recovery from Great Recession, 124–5, 126–9, 131–2, 150–53, 298–9, 304; in Soviet Union of 1950s, 278; as strong after Second World War, 126, 302; as strong in 1920s USA, 89, 89–90, 108, 143; as subordinated to financialization, 162–71, 182–3, 203–6, 237, 260; vast expansion in China, 265–74, 275–82, 283–9 economic models: canonical model used by central banks, 118, 131, 153*, 207; and demographics, 127, 131; distributional issues as suppressed in, 207; ignoring of resource misallocations, 153*; no place for money and credit in, 118; and perceptions of risk, 230; and productivity puzzle, 151; rational actors/perfect foresight assumptions, 118; unreal reality of academic models, 138, 207 The Economist, 63, 67, 71–2, 73, 77 EDF (French utility), 225 Edmunds, John C., 181 Egypt, 77, 78, 255, 262 Einstein, Albert, 8 Elizabeth II, Queen, 114 Ellington Capital Management, 223 Emden, Paul, 80* emerging markets: Brazilian crash (2012–13), 257–8; BRICs, 254–5, 257–8; capital controls return after 2008, 262, 291; capital flight from (starting 2015), 262, 285–6; demand for industrial commodities, 128; epic corruption scandals, 258; and extended supply chains, 261; flooding across South East Asia (2010), 255; ‘Fragile Five’, 258–9; growth of foreign exchange reserves, 252, 253, 254–5, 256; impact of ultra-low interest rates on, xxiii, 253–60, 262–3; international carry Trade, 137, 237–8; overheating during 2010, 255, 256; post-crisis capital flows into, xxiii, 253–9, 262–3; and recent phase of globalization, 260–61; recovery from 2008 crisis, 124; and savings glut hypothesis, 129, 268–9; ‘second phase of global liquidity’ after 2008 crisis, 253–9, 262–3; and taper tantrum (June 2013), xxiii, 137, 239, 256–7, 259, 263; Turkish debt, 258–60; vulnerability to US monetary policy, 137, 262–3, 267–8 see also China employment/labour markets, xx, 151–2, 240, 260–61, 260*, 296; after 2008 crisis, 210, 211; new insecurity, 211, 298 Erdogan, Recep Tyyip, 259 European Central Bank (ECB), 144, 145, 147, 239, 240, 293; inflation targeting, 119, 120, 122–3; and quantitative easing, 146, 241, 242; sets negative rate, 147, 192–3, 244, 299 European Union, 187, 241, 262 Eurozone, 124, 150–51, 226; and political sovereignty, 293, 293†; sovereign debt crisis (from 2010), 144–8, 226, 238, 239, 241, 273, 293 Evans, David Morier, 73 Evelyn, John, 36, 45 Evergrande (Chinese developer), 279, 288, 310 executive compensation schemes, 152, 162, 163–4, 170, 204, 206, 207 Extinction Rebellion, 201 ExxonMobil, 166 Fang’s Money House, Wenzhou, 281–2 farming: agricultural cycle, 11, 14, 88; and ‘Bank of John Deere’, 167; barley loans in ancient Mesopotamia, 5–6, 6*, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14; bubbles in post-crisis decade, 173; in China, 283; and language of interest, 4–5; loans related to consumption, 6, 25; US deflation of 1890s, 99 Federal Reserve, US: asymmetrical approach to rates, 136–7; as carry trader, 222; cognitive dissonance in, 118–19; Federal Reserve Act (1914), 83; ‘forgotten depression’ (1921), 84, 86, 100, 143; forward guidance policy, 131*, 133, 238, 239, 240, 241; and Gold Exchange Standard, 85, 87, 90*; the ‘Greenspan put’, 111, 186; impact on foreign countries, 137, 239, 240–41, 255–6, 259, 262–3, 267–8, 285; inflation targeting, 119, 120, 241; Long Island meeting (1927), 82–3, 88, 92; mandates of, 240, 262; and March 2020 crash, 305–6; Objectives of Monetary Policy (1937), 97; Open Market Committee (FOMC), 109, 112–13, 115†, 120, 164, 228, 238, 239, 240; Operation Twist (2011), 131*, 238; parallel with US Forest Service, 154–5; and post-Great War inflation, 84; as the ‘price of leverage’, xxi–xxii; quantitative easing by, 12*, 76, 131*, 137, 175, 215, 228, 236, 238, 239–40, 241; raised rates announcement (2015), 138, 239; reaches ‘zero lower bound’ (2008), 243–4; response to 1929 Crash, 98, 100, 101, 108; suggested as responsible for 2008 crisis, 116–17, 118–19, 155, 204, 226–7; TALF fund, 175; taper tantrum (June 2013), xxiii, 137, 239, 256–7, 259, 263; ultra-easy money after 2008 crisis, xxi, 60, 124, 131–8, 146, 149, 152–5, 181–3, 206–17, 221–4, 230, 235–41, 243–4, 262, 291–2; Paul Volcker runs, 108–9, 145; Janet Yellen runs, 120 see also Bernanke, Ben; Greenspan, Alan Feldstein, Martin, 119 Ferri, Giovanni, 277* Fetter, Frank, 30 Field, Alexander, The Great Leap Forward, 142–3 financial crisis (2008): accelerates financialization, 182–3; and complex debt securities, 116, 117–18, 231; ‘crunch porn’ on causes of, 114; economists who anticipated crisis, 113–14, 132; failure of unconventional monetary policies after, xxi, xxii, 43–4, 291–4, 298–9, 301–3; Fed’s monetary policy as suggested cause, 116–17, 118–19, 155, 204, 226–7; generational impact of, 211–12, 213; as ‘giant carry trade gone wrong’, 253–5; global causes of, 117–18; Icelandic recovery from, 301–2; and inequality, 204, 205–17, 299; interest at lowest level in five millennia during, xxi, 243–4, 247; Law’s System compared to, 49, 60–61; low/stable inflation at time of, 134, 135; monetary policy’s role in run-up downplayed, 115–16, 115*, 115†; and quoting of Bagehot, 76; recovery of lost industrial output after, 124; regulatory interpretation of, 114–15, 117; and return of the state, 292–5, 297, 298; return to ‘yield-chasing’ after, 221–6, 230–31, 233–4, 237–8; the rich as chief beneficiaries of, 206–10; savings glut hypothesis, 115–16, 117, 126, 128–9, 132, 191, 252, 268–9; ‘second phase of global liquidity’ after, 253–9, 262–3; unwinding of carry trades during, 221, 227; warnings from BIS economists before, 113–14, 131–4, 135–9 see also Great Recession financial derivatives market, 225–6 financial engineering: buybacks, 53, 152, 163–6, 167, 169, 170–71, 183, 224; crowding out of real economy by, 158–9, 160, 166–71, 182–3, 185, 237; ‘funding gap’ as impetus, 164, 176–7, 291; merger ‘tsunami’ after 2008 crisis, 160–63, 161*, 168–70, 237, 298; ‘promoter’s profit’ concept, 158–9, 160, 161, 164; and ‘shareholder value’, 163–6, 167, 170–71; Truman Show as allegory for bubble economy, 185–7; use of leverage, 111, 116, 149, 155, 158–71, 204, 207, 223, 237, 291; zaitech in Japan, 106, 182, 185 financial repression: in China, 264–5, 265*, 266–81, 268*, 283, 286–9, 292; and inequality, 287–8; McKinnon coins term, 264; political aspects, 265, 265*, 286–9, 292; returns to West after 2008 crisis, 291–3; after Second World War, 290–91, 302 financial sector: bond markets as ‘broken (2014), 227; complex securitizations, 116, 117–18, 221, 227, 231; decades-long bull market from early 1980s, 203–4; economics as fundamentally monetary, 132, 138–9; Edmunds’ ‘New World Wealth Machine’, 181–2; expansion in 1920s USA, 203; finance as leading growth, 266; financial mania of 1860s, 72–4, 75–6; fixed-income bonds, 68–9, 193, 219, 222, 225, 226; foreign securities/loans, 66, 77–8, 91; investment trusts appear (1880s), 79; liquidity traps, 114; mighty borrowers within, 202; profits bubble in post-crisis USA, 183, 183†, 185, 211; robber baron era in USA, 156–9, 203; stability as destabilizing, 82, 143, 233, 263, 285; stock market bubble in post-crisis decade, 175–7, 176*; trust companies in US, 83–4, 84*; US bond market ‘flash crash’ (2014), 138; and volatility, 153, 228–30, 233, 234, 254, 304, 305; volatility as asset class, 229–30, 229*, 233, 234, 304, 305; ‘Volmageddon’ (5 February 2018), 229–30, 234 see also banking and entries for individual institutions/events financial system, international: Asian crisis, 114, 252, 278; Basel banking rules, 232; Borio on ‘persistent expansionary bias’, 262–3; complex mortgage securities, 116, 117–18; crash (12 March 2020), 304–6; ‘excess elasticity’ of, 137; global financial imbalances, 137, 138; Louvre Accord (1987), 105–6; stock market crash (October 1987), 106, 110–11, 229 financialization, 162–71, 182–3, 185, 203–8, 237 Fink, Larry, 209, 246 Finley, Sir Moses, Economy and Society in Ancient Greece (1981), 18* fire-fighting services, 154–5 First World War, 84, 85 Fisher, Irving: and debt-deflation, 98–9, 100, 119, 280; first to refer to ‘real’ interest rate, 88–9, 219*; founds Stable Money League (1921), 87, 96; and Gesell’s rusting money, 243, 246; on interest, 29–30, 82, 189, 189*, 201; losses in 1929 crash, 94; monetarist view of 1929 Crash, 98–9, 100, 101, 108; ‘money illusion’ concept, 87*; on nature’s production, 4–5; on negative interest, 246; The Theory of Interest, xxiv, xxv, xxvi*, 16, 173 Fisher, Peter, 194 Fisher, Richard, 164 Fitzgerald, F.

Cloudmoney: Cash, Cards, Crypto, and the War for Our Wallets
by Brett Scott
Published 4 Jul 2022

I had also begun to earn Bitcoin tokens – mainly by exchanging copies of my first book for them – and had used them to get things like pizza from a pub in London, mint tea in Bulgaria, and even goods from an adult site called Crypto Sex Toys. I convinced my housemate to accept my rent in them when I ran out of normal money, and I paid helpers with it. A crypto scene began to develop off the back of Bitcoin, with new cryptocurrencies emerging. It was fun and experimental, an ethos that was exemplified by the arrival of the playful Dogecoin in 2013, a cryptocurrency based on a Shiba Inu dog meme. The atmosphere soon changed. Speculators, intrigued by the technological novelty of these crypto-tokens, began to pile in and trade them. At the same time, the underlying blockchain technology that underpinned these tokens was foregrounded, and by 2015 blockchain became a buzzword in its own right, excitedly touted by innovation pundits.

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The imagery of rugged heroic individualism alongside trading is enticing to men who might otherwise be working a standard day job. Launching digital collectibles that tap into this can be very lucrative, which means the factionalism is now as much commercial as it is political. Since Bitcoin, hundreds of ‘alt-coins’ have emerged, Bitcoin-like clones with new branding. These tokens – such as Litecoin, Peercoin or Dogecoin – maintain the same basic collectibles structure by issuing a limited edition set of numbered tokens, but tinker with their logo, quantity, mechanism or privacy. Cyberspace is now littered with countless crypto-tokens sold in exchange for US dollars. Many of these first-wave systems should be seen as proof-of-concept initiatives (albeit ones that enabled their promoters to become extremely wealthy), but they have paved the way for more sophisticated iterations, to which we will now turn.

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, 49, 72 ‘Cashfree and Proud’, 40 Cashless Catalyst, 127–8 Cashless Challenge, 40 cashless society, 2, 5, 10, 15, 38, 64, 81, 83, 84, 251 inevitability, 10–12, 121–33, 260–61 Cashless Way, 37 casinos, 66–9, 70–71, 83, 236 categorisation, 109, 113–14, 162, 167 Catholicism, 131, 212 Cayman Islands, 111 censorship, 33, 116–18, 250 central banks, 36, 42–5, 51, 84, 254 data surveillance, 115 digital currencies (CBDC), 242–5, 254, 255 international transfers, 79 transfers, 73–4 centralisation of power, 15, 180–83 centralised–decentralised model, 136 Chama, 130 charging up, 22–5 chatbots, 146–8 Chaum, David, 106–7, 117, 183 cheques, 89 Chicago Mercantile Exchange, 158 China, 2, 7, 18, 33, 74–5, 79, 114–15, 254 CBDC plans, 245, 254–5 facial recognition in, 150 leviathan complex, 178 People’s Bank of China, 79, 242 Social Credit System, 115, 245 choice, 124–6, 251 Christianity, 154, 175–6, 212 Christl, Wolfie, 109 cigarettes, 181 Circles, 260 Citigroup, 1, 37, 109, 132, 150, 227 City of London, 6, 135 class, see social class Cleo, 146 climate change, 226 cloakrooms, 66–9, 70–71 cloud, 30 cloudmoney, 82 Coca-Cola, 31, 131 cocaine, 98 code is law, 223, 224 Coinbase, 233 collateralised debt obligations, 26 colonialism, 55, 97, 175–6, 178, 239 Commerzbank Tower, Frankfurt, 18–20, 143, 156 computer boys, 158 conductivity, 179, 249 ConsenSys, 229 conservatism, 7, 131, 155, 184, 192–3, 211 see also right-wing politics consortium blockchains, 231, 233 conspiracy theories, 261–2 constitutional monarchies, 56 consumers, 25 contactless payments, 13, 31, 37–8, 91, 125, 127 core, 28 corporate personhood, 147 Corruption Perceptions Index, 43 counterfeiting, 60–61 countertradability, 209–10, 213, 256–7 Covid-19 pandemic, 2, 10, 16, 34, 36, 181, 249, 254 ATM use, 36 cash and, 2, 34, 40–41, 249, 261 conspiracy theories, 261 Cracked Labs, 109 credit cards, 39, 91, 109 credit creation of bank-money, 70, 72 credit default swap market, 232 credit expansion, 168–9 credit ratings, 17, 114, 160, 162–3, 167, 168, 170 crime cash and, 36, 42–3, 45, 81, 112 cybercrime, 32 financial crime, 111–12 marijuana industry, 102 trust and, 93 Crypto Sex Toys, 13 crypto-anarchists, 183 Cryptocannabis Salon, 101–2 cryptocurrencies, 13–15, 16, 101–2, 103, 184–5, 187–246, 254–60 alt-coins, 217–18 as commodity, 206–10, 213–14, 217, 246, 256 countertradability, 209–10, 213, 256–7 decentralisation and, 14, 15, 189–94, 196, 230, 234, 255, 258 forks, 214, 217 millenarianism and, 212, 213 mutual credit systems and, 260 oligopolies and, 229–33, 246 politics and, 191–3, 211–12, 215–17, 225–6 smart contracts, 220–24, 258 stablecoins, 233–41, 245–6, 255 Currency Conference (2017), 60 Curse of Cash, The (Rogoff), 93 Cyber Monday, 86 cyberattacks, 32, 48 cybercrime, 34 cyberpunk genre, 10 cypherpunk movement, 106, 183–5, 216–17 Dahabshiil, 116 DAI, 235 dark market, 216–17, 259 Dark Wallet, 216 data, 2, 8, 10, 33, 39, 104–19, 156–72 AI analysis, 108, 153–72 banking sector and, 108–9 Big Brother and, 113–15 categorisation, 109, 113–14, 162 panopticon effect and, 118–19, 172 payments censorship and, 116–18 predictive systems and, 105 states and, 110–12, 114–15 Data Bank Society, The (Warner), 106 data centres, 3, 4, 5, 30, 32, 34, 35, 47, 73, 76–7, 149 Davos, Switzerland, 11 debit cards, 39 Decathlon, 40–41 decentralisation, 14, 15, 189–94, 196, 230, 234, 255, 258–60 decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs), 221–4, 258 DECODE, 236 DeepMind, 8 DeFi (decentralised finance), 258 Delft University of Technology, 31 demand, 29 demonetisations, 43, 44, 93 deposits, 66–7, 69 derivatives, 6, 18, 21, 26, 27, 160 Desparte, Dante, 238 Diamond, Robert ‘Bob’, 38 Diem, 241, 244 DigiCash, 106, 183 digital footprint, 169 disruption, 8, 9, 14, 32, 140–43 distributed ledger technology (DLT), 229–46, 258 Dogecoin, 13, 218 dollar system, 80, 182, 210, 233–6, 239, 240 double spending, 182, 194 doublethink, 143 Dow Chemical, 24 Drakensberg Mountains, 3–4 Dridex, 32 drones, 11 drug dealers, 96 Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 248 Dylan, Robert ‘Bob’, 90 e-commerce, 40, 77 East India Company, 178 eBay, 109, 113 ecological activism, 7 economic syncretism, 175–6 Ecuador, 240 Egypt, 116 El Salvador, 98, 208 elderly people, 126 electricity, 247 Elwartowski, Chad, 216 Emili, Geronimo, 37 employees, 25 enclosure, 86 Enlightenment (c. 1637–1789), 252 enterprise blockchains, 231 Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, 233 entrepreneurs, 1, 15, 129, 155 equivocation fallacies, 85 Erica, 147 Ethereum, 219–24, 257–8 Ethereum Classic, 224 European Union, 14, 37, 42, 254 Central Bank, 51, 74, 79, 242 DECODE project, 236 Eurozone, 51, 74, 79 Evans, Mel, 144 exiting, 39, 48, 61, 63, 68, 83 Experian, 163 F-16 fighter jets, 153 Facebook, 7, 38, 105, 150, 166, 198, 255, 262 Libra, 236–41, 245 Messenger, 237 facial recognition, 10, 138, 150, 181, 245 far-left politics, 7, 215 far-right politics, 7, 14, 215, 225–6, 261–2 fascism, 7, 14, 226 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 111 Federal Reserve, 32, 35, 36, 234, 242 federated frontline, 136–8, 147 fees, 39, 57, 91, 94 feminism, 226 fiat money, 51–2, 56, 192, 193 Fidor, 142 Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, 111 financial crisis (2008), 6, 8, 17–18, 26–7, 96, 184, 232, 248 financial inclusion, 37, 39, 93–9, 130–32, 167, 238, 262 fingerprints, 150 Fink, Stanley, 38 fintech, 8, 41–2, 140–43 first-world problems, 154 fitness centres, 17 fixed money supplies, 191–3 Floored (2009 film), 158 Florentine Republic (1115–1569), 135, 159 Follow the Money, 112 Fourth Industrial Revolution, 11 fractional reserve banking, 70 France cashless payments strategy, 43 Frankfurt, Germany, 18–20, 143, 156, 248 frogs, slow-boiling, 104 futurism, 1, 12, 86, 122–3, 250, 252 gambling, 105 game theory, 220 Gap, 131 Gates, William ‘Bill’, 44–5, 261–2 GCHQ, 112 Generation Z, 86, 140 gentrification, 128–33 Germany, 7, 18 Bundesbank, 35, 47 cash thresholds, 42–3 Corruption Perceptions Index, 43 Frankfurt, 18–20, 143, 156 honesty boxes in, 91 get-rich-quick investments, 26 Getty Images, 80 giant parable, 52–6, 63–4, 188 global matrix, 12 Gmail, 203 gold, 192–3, 207, 214 Goldman Sachs, 38, 150, 157, 158, 230 Golumbia, David, 225 Google, 2, 5, 7, 262 Cashe, 150 data, 105, 108 DeepMind, 8 Gmail, 203 Maps, 4 Mastercard deal, 109 Pay, 1, 78, 125 Singularity University, 153–6, 252–3 Trends, 84 USAID and, 128, 178 Grassroots Economics, 260 Greece, 42, 43, 62, 131 Green Dot, 150 Greenpeace, 116 growth, 123, 126–7, 249 hackers, 6–7, 101, 184 Hacktivist Village, 101 Halkbank, 131 Handmaid’s Tale, The (Atwood), 117 Hansen, Tyler, 101–2 Harvard University, 47, 93 hawala systems, 179 ‘Here Today.

Mastering Ethereum: Building Smart Contracts and DApps
by Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Gavin Wood Ph. D.
Published 23 Dec 2018

A broad range of applications exist for systems like TrueBit, ranging from machine learning to verification of proof of work. An example of the latter is the Doge–Ethereum bridge, which uses TrueBit to verify Dogecoin’s proof of work (Scrypt), which is a memory-hard and computationally intensive function that cannot be computed within the Ethereum block gas limit. By performing this verification on TrueBit, it has been possible to securely verify Dogecoin transactions within a smart contract on Ethereum’s Rinkeby testnet. Decentralized Oracles While centralized data or computation oracles suffice for many applications, they represent single points of failure in the Ethereum network.

Elon Musk
by Walter Isaacson
Published 11 Sep 2023

A few weeks after Burning Man, they flew from south Texas to New York for the Met Gala, the costume extravaganza that Grimes relished. They stayed with Maye in her small apartment in Greenwich Village. Musk had just sent his plane to pick up a Shiba Inu dog he had just bought, named Floki, the breed that is the face of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency. He also brought his other dog, Marvin, who did not get along with Floki. Neither were housebroken. Maye’s apartment became a two-bedroom circus. The outfit Grimes assembled for the Gala was an homage to the sci-fi novel and movie Dune: a sheer gown, a gray-and-black cape, a silver face mask, and a sword.

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The parking area was festooned with art installations like those at Burning Man, arcade games, bandstands, a mechanical bull, a giant rubber duck, and two towering Tesla coils. Inside, parts of the factory were staged to look like a nightclub. Kimbal helped put together a drone show that featured likenesses of Nikola Tesla, the Dogecoin dog mascot, and a Cybertruck in the night sky. Celebrities included Harrison Ford, Spike Lee, and the artist Beeple, who had created an installation. Musk came onstage to a blaring Dr. Dre song driving the black Tesla Roadster that was the first car the company had ever made. He gave many statistics about the enormity of the 10-million-square-foot factory, then he put it in perspective by saying it could fit 194 billion hamsters.

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“Dude, you’ve never been on a board, so you don’t know how much this is going to suck for you,” he said. “You tell people what you think, and then they smile and nod and ignore you.” Kimbal thought that it would be better for his brother to start his own social media platform based on the blockchain. Perhaps it could include a payment system using Dogecoin, Elon mused. After brunch, he sent Kimbal a few texts fleshing out the idea for “a blockchain social media system that does both payments and short text messages like Twitter.” Because there would be no central server, “there’d be no throat to choke, so free speech is guaranteed.” The other option, Elon said, was not merely to join the board of Twitter but to buy it.

The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism
by David Golumbia
Published 25 Sep 2016

In this sense, it becomes a tool for existing power to concentrate itself, rather than a challenge to the existing order: as some better economically informed commentators consistently point out, Bitcoin functions much more like a speculative investment than a currency (Worstall 2013; Yermack 2014), although what one is investing in, beyond Bitcoin itself, is not at all clear. 6. The Future of Bitcoin and the Blockchain BITCOIN IS NOT SO MUCH a single software program as it is software written using a model called the blockchain that is can be used to build other very similar programs (related cryptocurrencies like Litecoin, Dogecoin, and so on), but also less similar ones. The cryptographically enabled distributed ledger, and the blockchain used to implement it, advocates insist, have wide application outside of their current uses.[1] We hear (not infrequently) that the blockchain is as revolutionary today as were “personal computers in 1975, the internet in 1993” (Andreessen 2014).

Practical Doomsday: A User's Guide to the End of the World
by Michal Zalewski
Published 11 Jan 2022

In the end, it’s genuinely difficult to know if Bitcoin and its ilk are here to stay, or what their “correct” valuation might be (assuming there’s any rational upper bound). That’s not to say that the collapse of these instruments is imminent. In some sense, a coin that represents a mathematical proof of wasted electricity is no better or worse than a currency with pictures of dead presidents. There might be a future where we’re all using Bitcoin, Dogecoin, or one of the experimental “stablecoins” that are meant to be tethered to the value of physical commodities. But until that day comes, enthusiasm for a new technology is probably not a good substitute for principled management of risk. Revisiting Dangers to Liquidity and Capital This lengthy stroll through the history of money serves an important purpose.

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Numbers 2FA (two-factor authentication), 108 3M gasmaks, 177 3M respirators, 175 9-11 attacks, 26–27 9mm Luger, 214 28 Days Later, 32 .38 Special, 214 A Abine, 110 accidental injuries car accidents, 96–98 firearms, 196, 217–218 industrial accidents, 19–20, 177 statistics on, 12–13 action plan, 121–125 Acxiom, 110 addiction, 99–100 adverse judgments, 69–70 advertising industry, 110 AGI (artificial general intelligence), 42 AI winter, 42 AIDS, 32 alarm systems, 112 alcohol use, 100–101 Alinco, 188 alkaline batteries, 154–155 allergies, 150 aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex gly, 149 amateur radio, 188–189 ammunition, 217 amoxicillin, 151 anesthetics miconazole nitrate, 150 animal-borne diseases, 176 antibiotics, 151 antifungal cream, 150 anti-itch cream, 150 antiperspirant, 149 antivirus programs, 106 Anytime Mailbox, 111 apocalypse, predictions of, 30–31 appliances, 152–159 APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System), 188–189 Aquatabs, 134 Aqua-Tainer products, 133 AR-15, 215–216 Arm & Hammer, 149 Armero volcano eruption, 35 artificial intelligence, 31, 42 asteroids, 34 asthma, 150 atom bombs, 30–31, 39–40, 178–180 Augason Farms, 141 auto accidents, 96–98 auto insurance, 51–52 auto repairs, 163–164 automated billing, 51 automatic center punches, 164 Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS), 188–189 avian flu, 26 B backyard gardens, 144 bail-ins, 22 bailouts, 68–69 baking soda, 148 ballistic vests, 129–130 bank accounts, 68–69, 76–77 banking crises, 22, 68–69 Bankrate.com, 10 Banqiao dam failure, 20 BaoFeng, 188 Barbot, Oxiris, 25 barter, 58–59, 73–74 batteries, 154–155, 163 bear spray, 171 BeenVerified, 110 Beirut nitrate explosion, 20 benzalkonium chloride (BZK) wipes, 149 benzocaine ointments, 151 The Bet (Sabin), 8 Bhopal disaster, 20 bicycles, 166 billionaires, 73 bird shot, 217 birth certificates, 166–167 Bitcoin, 66–68 Black Death, 32, 176 black holes, 35 bleeding, 151, 177 blizzards, 18 blockchain, 67 blunt instruments, 208 Bogle, John C., 80–81 bonds, 77–78 books, 191–192 bows, 208–209 brain in a jar, 42 break-ins, 111–112, 201 bromadiolone, 177 bromethalin, 177 Brooks, Max, 30 buckshot, 217 bug-out situations, 165–171 bulletproof vests, 129–130 bullets, 217 Bureau of Justice Statistics, 13 burglaries, 13, 111–112, 201 Butte fire complex, 18 BZK (benzalkonium chloride) wipes, 149 C caffeine pills, 150 California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), 111 California Gun Laws (Michel and Cubeiro), 196 calorie needs, 138–139 calorie restriction, 117–118 cameras, 201 camping, 167–168, 171 Canberra MRAD113, 179 candles, 154 Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Piketty), 72 car accidents, 96–98 car break-ins, 111 car insurance, 51–52 car repairs, 163–164 career planning, 91–93 cash, 49–55, 75–76 Cato Institute, 23 CB (citizens band) radios, 186 CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), 111 CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), 13 cell phones, 155–156, 181 cetirizine, 150 chains, 163 chainsaws, 162 Champion generators, 156 Charlie’s Soap, 149 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, 20, 31 Chicago Sunday Tribune, 37–38 chlorination, 134 choking, 104 cholecalciferol, 177 Christmas Island, 33 citizens band (CB) radios, 186 class tensions, 72–73 clathrate gun hypothesis, 33 cleaning, 148 climate change, 18, 33–34 clip-on pulse oximeters, 150 CME (coronal mass ejection), 35–36 cocaine, 100 coincidence of wants, 58 coins, 59–63 collectibles, 86–87, 201 Colorado floods, 11 come-alongs, 162–163 commodity futures options, 71, 81–83 commodity money, 60 communications, 181–190 community property, 125 compensation, 50 confiscatory taxes, 72–73 constitutional carry, 206 consumer debt, 53–54 consumer lending, 63 consumer prices, 70–71 contraceptives, 150 convictions, 6–8 cooking, 158 CoreLogic, 110 coronal mass ejection (CME), 35–36 cosmic threats, 35–36 cost of living, 11 cough, 150 court fights, 69–70 coveralls, 175 COVID-19 pandemic, 25–26, 174–176 CPR procedure, 151–152 credit cards, 53–54 Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction, 34 criminal victimization, 13 crisis indicators, 124 critical decision points, 124 crony beliefs, 6–8 crossbows, 208–209 cryptocurrencies, 66–68, 84, 87 Cubeiro, Matthew D., 196 currencies, history of, 58–68 customer data, 110 cuts, 150 Cypriot debt crisis, 69, 73 D data brokers, 110 Datrex, 143 d-CON, 177 DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), 176 De Waal, Frans, 20 death causes of, 13 planning, 14–15, 124–125 debt, 10–11, 50, 53–54, 59–60 debt crisis, 22 Debt: The First 5000 Years (Graeber), 59 de-escalation skills, 13 defensive driving, 96–98 dehydration, 134 DeleteMe Help Center, 110 deltamethrin, 176 dental care, 151 dental picks, 151 developing countries, 33–34 dextromethorphan, 150 diarrhea, 150 dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), 176 Didion, Joan, 122 dietary supplements, 180 diets, 115–118 digital communications, 188–189 Digital Mobile Radio (DMR), 188 diindolylmethane (DIM), 179 dinosaurs, 34 diseases, 32–33, 173–177 dishwashing, 148 Diversey Oxivir Five 16, 176 Diversey PERdiem, 148 diversified portfolios, 88–-90 divorce, 69–70 documents, 166–167 Dogecoin, 68 dogs as burglary deterrent, 112 domestic terrorism, 26–27 driving habits, 96–98 drowning, 104 drugs, 99–101, 150 D-STAR, 188 “duck and cover,” 39 DuPont Tychem coveralls, 175 dust storms, 18 duty to retreat, 205 Dynarex, 149 E earthquake probabilities, 19 Ebola, 26, 32 economic crises, 22–24 economic hardships, 10–11 economic persecution, 72 ecosystem collapse, 34 Ehrlich, Paul R., 7–8, 30 elastic bandages, 150 electricity, 36, 152–159 electrolyte imbalance, 150 emergency ration bars, 143 emergency repairs, 162–163 EMP (electromagnetic pulse), 40–41 employment, 91–93 encephalitis lethargica, 25 Energizer Ultimate batteries, 155 entertainment, 191–192 epinephrine inhalers, 150 Epsilon Data Management, 110 Equifax, 110 equities, 79–81 escheatment, 77 eugenics, 37 eugenol, 151 evacuation, 165–171 exercise, 117–118 expenses, 51–52 Experian, 110 Expose, 176 extinction, 34 extraterrestrial life, 43 extreme weather, 18, 156–158, 168 F Facebook, 109, 110, 155 fall injuries, 98–99 false vacuum decay, 35 Family Radio Service (FRS), 186–187 farming, 137 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), 19, 132 fever, 150 fiat money, 64–65 fiction, 29–30 fighting, 113, 206 financial problems, 10–11 firearms, 196–197, 211–219 fires Butte fire complex, 18 house fires, 11, 18, 103–104 wildfires, 18, 44, 124 firewood, 158, 170 first aid, 149–152 fitness, 115–118 fixed-blade knives, 170 flashlights, 154–155 flat tires, 163 floods, 19, 147–148 floss, 151 flu, 25 fluticasone propionate, 150 FMJ (full metal jacket) bullets, 217 food-borne illness, 141–142 food preparation, 158 food security, 137–144 foraging, 168–169 foreclosures, 10–11 foreign currencies, 78–79 Forgey, William W., 152 Forster, E.

The Social Life of Money
by Nigel Dodd
Published 14 May 2014

Some 36.7 percent of users do not drink, smoke, gamble, or take drugs, and more people have used Bitcoin for donations than for illegal transactions (see http://simulacrum.cc/2013/04/13/overview-of-bitcoin-community-survey-feb-mar-2013/). 39 Quoted in “The Bitcoin Boom,” The New Yorker, April 2, 2013, see http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/04/the-future-of-bitcoin.html. 40 There are several other alternatives to Bitcoin, such as Litecoin, Namecoin, PPCoin, and Dogecoin. As of January 2013, there were more than seventy digital currencies listed on http://coinmarketcap.com/. Each offers its own distinct variation on (and reputed advantage over) the Bitcoin theme. For example, Litecoin can be mined using consumer-grade hardware (see https://litecoin.org/), while PPCoin is designed to be more secure (see https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/PPCoin). Dogecoin, using the Shiba Inu dog as its mascot, is based on Litecoin. In 2014, a new digital currency called Coinye West—the name is inspired by the rapper, Kanye West, although he has no direct links with the project—was due to be launched, reputedly for use in the music industry. 41 See http://freico.in/faq/. 42 For example, “For the 99% who live paycheck-to-paycheck, the loss from demurrage is minimal and would be compensated for in wages and pricing.

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See also currency wars; internal devaluation difference, in Deleuze and Guattari, 227–28; in Derrida, 227 digital money, 36, 41–43, 47, 214, 307 Dionysus, 136, 154, 155, 205, 251, 351; and money, 142, 175 direct monetary financing, 131 Discover, 377 disintermediation, 352, 363, 370, 379 division of labor, 63, 150, 151, 234, 324 Doctorow, Cory, 381 Dogecoin, 370n40 dollar, United States, 99, 299, 302 dollarization, 214 Douglas, Clifford Hugh, 355–57, 372, 382 Douglas, Mary, 283 Douglas Credit Party, 357 Douglass, Frederick, 222 Douthwaite, Richard, 374–76 Dow, Sheila, 106n19, 213n4 Dubief, Henri, 172n Dumas, Charles, 207–8 Durkheim, Émile, 46, 170, 173; on prices, 16; on religion, 15, 101, 308; on sacrifice, 167–68; on the social basis of contract, 31; on society, 8, 268; on sociology, 168 Dumézil, Georges, 172n Duthuit, George, 172n dystopia, 223, 383; and the market, 281 ecological money, 374–76 economic anthropology, 279, 285 Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA), 207 economic growth, 67, 374 economic liberalism, 322, 323–24, 325, 326, 329, 372n, 382; versus socialism, 323–25, 329, 382, 383 economics, 3, 7, 20, 38, 53, 99, 119, 170, 196, 205–6, 251, 282, 283, 308, 318, 390; of austerity, 159; ‘Austrian,’ 362; behavioral, 91, 290–91; of desire, 236; and guilt, 150–51; heterodox, 7; and intimacy, 289; Keynesian, 7, 178–79; Marxist, 234; neoclassical, 29; primitive, 155; and religion, 231; restricted, 178–79, 186, 207 economy of credit, 94 economy of interest, 94 Eckhart, Meister, 332, 334 Eichengreen, Barry, 245, 255–56 Einzig, Paul, 19, 282 Elias, Norbert, 276–77 Elizabeth I, 108 embeddedness, 279, 280–81, 285, 289 emotional labor, 241 empire, 77; in Hardt and Negri, 238–41; versus imperialism, 243–44 encryption, 36 endogenous money, 105, 108n23 energy, and base materialism, 169, 172; in Bataille, 173, 177, 183, 192; cost, 132; in de Sade, 169; in Deleuze and Guattari, 169; in Freud, 336; and money, 355, 375–76 Engels, Friedrich, 68, 391 epic recession, 128.

Buy Now, Pay Later: The Extraordinary Story of Afterpay
by Jonathan Shapiro and James Eyers
Published 2 Aug 2021

Some GameStop traders used their profits to buy giant billboards on freeways, marking their moment of triumph. Social media was primed for the next meme trade. It didn’t have to be a stock. In fact, most millennials and Gen Zs preferred trading cryptocurrencies. Elon Musk, rapper Snoop Dogg and former porn star Mia Khalifa encouraged their followers to buy one called Dogecoin, which was created not to be taken too seriously. The price went up 800 per cent. There was a lot of money to be made. Serious investors could make money by latching themselves onto millennial trends, and the most lucrative was cryptocurrencies. Increasingly, institutional investors became converts, and pitched the asset class to their clients.

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Jones 231 Bailey, Harley 55 Baillie Gifford 236 Bain, Iona 320 Baker, Craig 55 Bancroft, Cameron 197 banking sector bank bashing 139–40, 250 banking code of conduct 324 business model 336–7 Hayne Royal Commission 140, 141, 195, 205, 215, 218 innovation, slow to adopt 219 Beadle, Tom 252, 255, 299, 314 Beard, Phil ‘Scoop’ 132–3,134 Beard, Sandy 99 Bell, Colin 134 Bell Potter 107, 113, 121, 132, 184, 251 Bensimon, Albert 48 Berkman, David 50 Berkshire Hathaway 125, 234 BHP 70–1 Bill Me Later 77, 81 Blackrock 293, 294 Bligh, Anna 195, 217 Blockley, Lance 222 Bloomfield, George 9 Bolton, Faye 3 bond rates 186, 266, 333–4, 335 tech-stock valuations and 334–5 Bortoli, Luke 236, 264, 288, 289 Bos, Wayne 30 Boudrie, Nick 168 Bragg, Andrew 249–50, 251, 286, 296, 297, 300, 302, 304, 329 Brenner, Catherine 199 Brierley, Ron 17, 18, 24, 26–7, 33, 36 Afterpay 83, 117 Brierley Investments 27 child pornography possession 259 GPG see Guinness Peat Group (GPG) IEL see Industrial Equity Limited (IEL) Weiss and 26 Brierley Mercantile 117 Brighte 201, 325 Brinkman, Wens 61 British Fashion Council 323 Brody, Gerard 144, 148, 201, 286, 329 Bryan, Mark 113, 223 Bryett, Wez 76, 77 Buckingham, William 43 Buckingham’s 43 Buffet, Warren 125, 178–9 bushfires 2019-2020 260, 261 Business Review Weekly 7 buy now, pay later (BNPL) sector banks’ attitude towards 217 birth of industry 48 code of conduct 224, 286, 298, 324–6 definition 48 different models 317–18, 322 ‘no-surcharge’ rules 254, 255, 262, 301, 302, 341 regulation see regulation of BNPL sector 201 retail payment economy, proportion 264 self-regulation 223, 224, 286, 298–9 Cahill, Antony 216 Caledonia 127 Caliburn 22, 23, 24, 63 Calvert-Jones, John 59, 60, 62, 84 Campbell, Rob 19, 35 Cannon-Brookes, Mike 101, 156, 201, 277, 281 Carnegie, Mark 14, 39, 40, 99, 311–12 Carr, Tony 109 Catalina restaurant 305, 306 Cato, Sue 199 Cato & Clegg 199, 200, 242 Centennial Funds Management 95 Certegy 48, 49–50, 201 Certegy-Ezi-Pay 52 consumer groups and regulators 50 Freedom Australia deal 48 jewellery sector 48–9 Chandra, Ashwini 169–70 Change Up 116 Chanos, Jim 177, 178 Chappelli Cycles 100 Charlton, Andrew 196, 200, 208, 209, 249 Chen, Francis Sy Lei 5 Chester, Karen 340 China 275–6 Chippendale, Phillip 175, 246 Chung, Juliet 295 Cisco 98 Citibank 168, 169, 184, 251 Clearpay 184, 280, 322, 323 London Fashion Week 323 Cleeve, Adrian 54, 55, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, 69, 111 ATC Capital 65, 116, 159, 267 Cleevecorp 115–16, 159 death 111, 115 TAFMO 64, 65 Touchcorp IPO 58, 59, 67–8, 94 Cleeve, Audrey 69 Cleeve, Damien 59, 66, 69 Cleeve, estate of Adrian Afterpay Touch shareholding 118 legal proceedings 159, 267 Cleeve, Keith 58, 59, 60, 62, 69 Cleeve, Laurence 59, 66, 69 Cleeve, Linley 69 Cleeve, Terence 69, 116 Cleevecorp 115–16, 159 Clegg, Brett 199, 211, 242 CNN Money 15, 16 Coats 31–3 Coatue Management 234–5, 257, 258, 282, 295, 335 Coburn, Niall 142 code of conduct 224, 286, 298, 324–8 ASIC input 327 consumer groups and 326, 328–9 credit checks 327–8 politicians’ response 329 Coleman, Charles Payson Chase 234, 295 Commonwealth Bank 216–17 BNPL scheme, creation of own 338, 339 CommSec 318 Hayne Banking Royal Commission 215, 337 Klarna investment 247–8, 337–8 money-laundering allegations 151–2, 217–18 Comyn, Matt 215, 217–18, 247, 337 Connal, Simon 149 Connolly, Paul 55 Consumer Action Law Centre 144, 148, 201, 286, 329 consumer people power 311 Consumer’s Federation of Australia 328 Coppleson, Richard 134–5, 136–7, 165–6, 167, 193, 225 The Coppo Report 134 Cordukes, James 339 Costello, Peter 21 Council of Small Business Organisations Australia 262 Course, Phil 61, 62, 63, 65 COVID-19 260–1, 269 Centrelink lines 269, 271 ecommerce during 278 emergency health response plan 265 government response 269–71 JobKeeper 271 share market reactions 265–7 Team Australia 269, 300–1 US Federal Reserve 273 Cox, Karen 249, 328–9 Creasy, Stella 322 credit 42 Bankcards 46, 120, 218 big retailers and 44–5 cash orders 43, 44 consumer leases 50 credit cards 40, 41, 46 instalments, purchases by 42 interest-free loans 50, 51 lay-by 41, 44, 45, 46–7 millennials and credit cards 40, 41, 52, 73, 208, 217, 222 Transax 47 credit cards 40, 41, 46 Bankcards 46, 120, 218 ‘card not present’ fraud 119 chargeback 119 fraud 119 history in Australia 218–19 millennials and 40, 41, 52, 73, 208, 217, 222 regulation of 220–2 virtual cards 279 Crennan, Daniel 143 Cribb, Tom 58, 66, 67, 168, 169, 184 Crosby, Lynton 340 Crutchfield, Philip 101 cryptocurrencies 311 Cue Group 87, 88, 113, 130 Cureton, Graeme 63, 71, 83 CVC Capital 84, 99, 117 Cyan Investment Management 95, 107 Daly, Tony 11 David Jones 20, 44 Davies, Enno 55 Davis, Jim Woodson 238, 295 Davis, Melissa 243 day traders 278–9, 308–10 De Carvalho, Fabio 76, 77, 86, 87, 89 de Smet, Jan 61, 63 Debelle, Guy 266 Dey, Sujit 162–4, 167 Diamond, Larry 100, 211, 270, 279 Dish 153 Dogecoin 311 Don, Gil 246 Donoghue, Jon 289 Douglass, Hamish 96, 181 Druckenmiller, Stan 233 Drummond, Shaun 101, 103 Eastern Suburbs Rugby Club 11 eBay 13, 14, 77, 98, 157, 180, 240, 263 ecommerce 47 EFTPOS direct-debit system 46, 219 Einhorn, David 177, 178 Eisen, Anita 19, 21 Eisen, Anthony Mathew 13, 14, 17, 19, 24, 52, 133, 341–2 Adrian Cleeve and 58, 63 Afterpay see Afterpay background 19, 20 Byron Bay house 194, 303 early career 21 education 21 fortune, personal 277, 333 GPG 19, 25, 30, 35–6, 37, 63 Molnar, meeting 39, 52 Eisen, Malcolm 19, 20, 21, 24 Eisen, Samantha 24 Eley Griffiths 104, 105, 107, 187, 293 Ellerston 241 Emerson, Craig 209–10 Enron 177 Everaardt, Tineka 151 Ezra, Adam 131, 279 FAANG stocks 182 Facebook 98, 102, 122, 263, 289 factoring 181 Fahour, Ahmed 257 Fairfax 126–7 ‘fallacy of composition’ 254 Farmers 44 Farquhar, Scott 101–2, 277, 281 fashion retail sector 306 fast fashion 307 Feit, Alon 246 Fergie, Dean 95, 107 Ferrington, Rebecca 55 financial deregulation 119 Find the Moat blogger 121–2, 125 Fink, Larry 302 Firetrail 272, 292 First Sentier 292 Fisher, Emma 335 FlexiGroup 117, 325 FlexiRent 50, 51 Floyd, George 277 Forrest, Andrew 294 Fortescue Metals Group 294 Frydenberg, Josh 251, 261, 300–1, 326 G20 meetings 250, 261 Gabriele, Mario 313 Galloway, Scott 285, 289 Gamble, Duncan 187 Gamble, Neil 23 GameStop 308–10, 311, 319 Garg, Akash 242, 243 Gates, Bill 302 Gavin, Tim 11 Gazard, David 200, 214 Ge, Xin 242, 243 GE Finance 51, 100 General Pants 87, 103, 106, 107, 111 Gibbs, Tony 34, 35 Gill, Keith 309 Gillard, Julia 196 Gillezeau, Natasha 307 Ginges, Agnes 6 Ginges, Berel 6, 9 Ginges, Max 9–10 Glass, Max 20 Glen, John 322 Global Financial Crisis 33, 34, 52, 74 Gniwisch, Isaac 15, 16 Gniwisch, Julie 15 Gniwisch, Shmuel (Sam) 14–15, 16, 40 Godfreys 49–50 Gold, Fred 10 Gold, Gitta 10 Goldman Sachs 33, 66, 67, 105, 251–2, 274 Good Shepherd Microfinance 201, 204–6 Google 54, 92, 102, 127, 182, 240, 263, 289 Goot, Robert 4 Grace Bros 44 Graf, Ervin 9 Grant, Luke 210 Gray, Peter 100, 315, 316, 318 Great Depression 44 Greenberg, Paul 77–8, 83, 114, 129, 188 Online Retailer Conference & Expo 86 Greenspan, Alan 180 Grimshaw, Tracy 151 Gross, Bill 15, 16 Guinness Peat Group (GPG) 17, 18, 24, 28, 60 assets of, realising 35–7 Coats 31–3 Eisen hiring 30 history 28–9 late 1995-2005, activities 29–35 TAFMO, sale of 64 Guscic, John 112 Guthrie, Fiona 328, 338 Hakoah Club, Bondi 5 Hallas, Peter 8 Hallas, Yvonne 8 Halvorsen, Andreas Ole 235 Hammond, John 9 Hancock, David 52, 53, 73, 74, 108, 120, 130, 133, 229, 236 Hanneman, Gerhard 55 Harris, Richard 74, 75, 87, 108, 160–1 Harry, Troy 84, 85, 117, 125–6, 273 Hartzer, Brian 259 Harvey, Gerry 50, 149, 225 Harvey Norman 50, 51, 100 Hatton, Lee 339 Hawkins, Alan 28 Hayne, David 173 Hayne, Kenneth 141 Hayne Royal Commission 140, 141, 195, 205, 215, 218, 287 hedge funds 231, 295, 310–11 Hempton, John 191–2 Henry, Ken 141, 206, 216 Higgins, Jonathon 279, 291 Hodge, Michael 141 Hodgens, Patrick 272 Hogan, Sean 84 Holmes à Court, Robert 18, 27, 70 Holocaust 2, 5, 6, 8 Howard, John 21 Hughes, Anthony 18 Hughes, Sean 297, 298 Hui, Gary 119, 120 Hume, Jane 211–12, 213, 329 Hungary, post-war 2 Hunt, Peter 23 Hurrigan, Mr 3, 5 Ice Online 16, 39, 40, 55, 307, 311 The Iconic 134, 135 Immelt, Jeff 51 Industrial Equity Limited (IEL) 26, 27, 28 initial public offers (IPOs) 98–9 Innovative Payments 53 instalments, purchases by 42 instore retail 113, 130 Intellect 60, 63 point of sale terminals 60 TAFMO 61, 63 interest rates, low 180, 185 International Monetary Fund 261 Investors Mutual 127, 128, 291–2 Jackson, Shaun 55 Jacob, Ashok 71, 84, 112 Jacobsson, Victor 190 Jasper, Leigh 155 Jeans, Neil 258 Jefferies, Mike 30, 54, 58, 60, 66 Afterpay 83, 84 TAFMO 63, 64 Touchcorp CEO 116 Touchcorp shares 65, 67, 68 Jetstar 135 Jewish community financial success of 7–8, 9 Hungarian Jewish immigrants 5, 8 Melbourne 5, 8 Polish Jewish immigrants 5, 8 rag trade 9, 19 Sydney 3, 5, 7–8 Jewish Welfare Society 2 Johnson, Mark 35 Johnson, Steven 288 Jones, Alfred Winslow 231 Jones, Stephen 329 J.P.

Mastering Blockchain, Second Edition
by Imran Bashir
Published 28 Mar 2018

Any value can be used but an appropriate value is usually between a few minutes; if the generation time is too fast it might destabilize the blockchain, if it's too slow it may not attract many users. Block rewards A block reward is for the miner who solves the mining puzzle and is allowed to have a coinbase transaction that contains the reward. This used to be 50 coins in bitcoin initially and now many altcoins set this parameter to a very high number; for example, in Dogecoin it is 10,000, currently. Reward halving rate This is another important factor; in bitcoin, it is halved every 4 years and now is set to 12.5 bitcoins. It's a variable number that can be set to any time period or none at all depending on the requirements. Block size and transaction size This is another important factor that determines how high or low the transaction rate can be on the network.

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Coinage This parameter defines how long the coin has to remain unspent in order for it to become eligible to be considered stake worthy. Total supply of coins This number sets the total limit of the coins that can ever be generated. For example, in Bitcoin the limit is 21 million, whereas in Dogecoin it's unlimited. This limit is fixed by the block reward and halving schedule discussed earlier. There are two options to create your own virtual currency: forking existing established cryptocurrency source code or writing a new one from scratch. The latter option is less popular but the first option is easier and has allowed the creation of many virtual currencies over the last few years.

The Antisocial Network: The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Ragtag Group of Amateur Traders That Brought Wall Street to Its Knees
by Ben Mezrich
Published 6 Sep 2021

Forty feet below the surface of Hawthorne, California, a working-class enclave fifteen miles outside Los Angeles. A freshly bored tunnel fitted with electrodynamic suspension rails and linear induction motors, as well as a partially constructed Hyperloop capsule, complete with inlet fan and axial compressor. Elon Musk, CEO and chief techno-king of Tesla; CEO, CTO, and chief designer of SpaceX; dogecoin enthusiast; bitcoin proselytizer; sometime richest man in the world; and the former president of the Galactic Federation of Planets, was moving fast, his legs churning at what felt like a thousand RPMs, as he tore through the twelve-foot-high, mile-long Hyperloop test track. He was breathing hard, fighting for air in the reduced pressure environment of the underground tube, but the state-of-the-art neurolink imbedded in his cerebellum instantly compensated for the lack of oxygen, firing messages down his neural pathways to continuously modify his circulatory and respiratory needs.

Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It
by Marc Goodman
Published 24 Feb 2015

In the days of Al Capone’s Prohibition-era racketeering, the Feds’ mantra became “Follow the money,” and it was ultimately tax evasion charges, not murder convictions, that brought down the world’s biggest crime boss of the 1930s. Though “follow the money” has been the core credo in law enforcement ever since, cops may soon have to find a new motto. There are now more than seventy virtual crypto-currency competitors to Bitcoin, such as Ripple, Litecoin, and Dogecoin, and it is estimated nearly $10 billion in virtual currencies were transacted in 2013 alone. Given the vast sums at play, it should come as no surprise that criminals are not only transacting Bitcoin but also targeting the crypto currency for theft. Hackers have been able to steal millions and millions of dollars in virtual money from one another, with the largest attack to date directed against Mt.

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The computing power embedded in smart objects scattered throughout your home and office can be profitable to criminals in other ways as well. In early 2014, researchers discovered tens of thousands of Internet-enabled DVRs that had been hacked with the Linux.​Darlloz worm to use their processing power to mine for crypto currencies such as MinCoins and Dogecoins. In doing so, hackers can keep your appliances running at full speed, generating virtual currencies for them while sticking you with the electric bill for spinning your devices 24/7. In theory, the new smart meter in your home might catch the excessive electricity use, but of course it too can be hacked.

Before Babylon, Beyond Bitcoin: From Money That We Understand to Money That Understands Us (Perspectives)
by David Birch
Published 14 Jun 2017

Years ago my son was already trading World of Warcraft Gold via his iPhone with insight and dexterity to match the best of Wall Street’s high-frequency traders. Now you can download an app for the Brixton Pound on your smartphone and, even as I write, there are kids in basements dreaming up the next DogeCoin and Drachma. Money eras It is difficult to see the trajectory of money when technologies that were invented in the 1960s (like the magnetic stripe) or indeed the 1860s (like uniformly valued, nationally based paper US dollars) exist alongside technologies that haven’t yet been fully invented (Maurer and Swartz 2014).

The Infinite Machine: How an Army of Crypto-Hackers Is Building the Next Internet With Ethereum
by Camila Russo
Published 13 Jul 2020

Did they really need $100 million to develop a chat app? Hadn’t Ethereum raised just a fraction of that? WeChat itself only raised $3.5 million in its seed round. The word “greed” was coming up more and more often whenever ICOs were being discussed. Jackson Palmer, the founder of the digital currency Dogecoin, posted a YouTube video around the time of the Status sale saying, “The real reason the [ether] price has been going up something like a hundred dollars per week for the past month is really just greed: Greed from developers, greed from investors [and] greed from everybody in this speculative market.”

Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money
by Nathaniel Popper
Published 18 May 2015

Krugman asked. Cowen, meanwhile, argued that Bitcoin was going to have difficulty sustaining its value as new and better-designed cryptocurrencies came along and drew users away from it. Some people were, indeed, already choosing to hold Litecoin, Charlie Lee’s creation, and a hip, younger cryptocurrency, Dogecoin. But a deeper strain lurking beneath these critiques was an awareness that one of the fundamental premises that had driven Bitcoin’s popularity seemed, increasingly, to have been disproved. Many early Bitcoiners, particularly in the libertarian camp, had believed that the Federal Reserve’s efforts to stimulate the economy in the wake of the financial crisis, by pumping lots of new money into banks, would devalue the dollar and lead to high inflation, similar to what had happened in Argentina.

Seven Crashes: The Economic Crises That Shaped Globalization
by Harold James
Published 15 Jan 2023

From March 20, 2020, stock markets staged a rapid climb back, as bargain hunters looked for opportunities, and then as others realized that the new policy orientation would stick. The euphoria looked like previous episodes of stock market froth: money poured into technology stocks, where there might be expectations of permanent gains as consumers and firms modified their behavior, into alternative currencies such as the satirically named Dogecoin, but even into the classic nineteenth-century objects of speculation. Hedge funds drove two rival Canadian railroad companies, Canadian National and Canadian Pacific, into a bidding war for Kansas City Southern. The trigger for the turning point in U.S. market sentiment was the presentation of a relief plan by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on March 19.

The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze
by Laura Shin
Published 22 Feb 2022

Looking back now, Andrey says the reason he had the idea to try to crash the price of ETC was that it would be fun, “kind of like playing Wolf of Wall Street movie—in the real world,” as he put it. He also thought that since ETC was bad, crashing its price “would be like doing service for the community… Ethereum Classic was like a joke. It was like, what is this? But how can there be a copy of the chain worth $100 million or whatever?… Like a Dogecoin.” When asked about his legal threats, which he pursued almost as an academic exercise, since these issues were legally unprecedented, he says that, at that time, he was “careless with people,” adding, “I was more like a troll,” who amused himself trying to make the front page of Reddit. Five years later, having grown up, he thinks his legal letters were “a stupid mistake and bullshit, but back then, I didn’t think much of it.