IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. 

#1 On Halloween 2008, a computer scientist named Satoshi Nakamoto published a whitepaper introducing Bitcoin, a digital currency that allows people to exchange money without going through a bank or credit card processor.

#2 Money has traditionally been held in two forms: physical items like cash or gold pieces, or having a trusted institution like a bank or chieftain track how much money you have. The shortcomings of these forms of money are clear: it's easy to steal, it can't be used for online or long-distance transactions, it can be counterfeited, and it's a pain to store and transport.

#3 Humanity has always used money to solve the problems of tangibility. Money was invented by a trusted institution, such as a bank or local chief, to mediate between humans and their tangible money. However, this form of money has several shortcomings that stem from the fact that there is a middleman.

#4 What we really need in money is intangibility. M3 gives you intangibility by introducing middlemen: if you trust institutions to manage and move your money for you, you don’t have to hold tangible money anymore. But middlemen come with their own bundle of drawbacks.

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