Synopses & Reviews
The story of the idealists, technologists, and opportunists fighting to bring cryptocurrency to the masses.
In their short history, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have gone through booms, busts, and internecine wars. Yet today they are very much still with us: Bitcoin currently trades for almost $10,000, the value of all crypto assets is greater than $250 billion. The central promise of crypto is too good to pass up-vast un-taxable fortunes made from decentralized networks not controlled by any single entity.
Yet cryptocurrency was growing increasingly marginal until a brilliant new idea changed its fortunes once again: Ethereum. In this book, Laura Shin takes readers inside the creation of this new form of cryptocurrency network, which enabled users to launch their own new coins, and in so doing, created a new crypto fever. You'll meet people like Vitalik Buterin, the wunderkind whose idea quickly became a $20 billion empire; Charles Hoskinson, the initial CEO who left the project within five months; and Joe Lubin, a former Goldman Sachs VP whose early involvement in Bitcoin and Ethereum helped him become one of crypto's most well-known billionaires. Sparks flew as these outsized personalities fought for their piece of a seemingly limitless new business opportunity.
The fortunes of crypto continue to rise and fall, but the people fighting to take it mainstream are making and losing fortunes and careers on it. This fascinating book shows the crypto market for what it really is: a deeply personal struggle for a revolution that may come tomorrow, or not at all.
Review
"The most authoritative account yet of Ethereum. Laura Shin is deeply sourced in the crypto world and this is reflected on every page. The Cryptopians also casts new light on Vitalik Buterin, showing the human side of Ethereum's founding genius as never before." Jeff John Roberts, executive editor of Decrypt and author of Kings of Crypto
Review
"Shin's compelling, blow-by-blow account of the remarkable birth and growth of Ethereum shows that its spectacular wealth generation was not without struggle. By Shin's telling, the story of Ethereum is a grand human drama. For all the talk of decentralized, code-based 'virtual machines,' a successful crypto project's biggest challenge is surviving internecine conflicts and the egos of its brilliant but humanly flawed founders." Michael J. Casey, chief content officer at CoinDesk and coauthor of The Age of Cryptocurrency and The Truth Machine
Review
"Deeply researched, this book is an important body of work and must-read for the inside story of Ethereum, complete with all of its grit and drama." Willy Woo, Bitcoin analyst
Video
Watch the Powell’s virtual event with Laura Shin & Jeff Roberts!
About the Author
Laura Shin is a writer, crypto journalist, and podcaster. A former senior editor at Forbes, she left the magazine in 2018 to commit to her podcasts and videos, Unchained and Unconfirmed, which have had over 14 million downloads and views. Shin has spoken about and led discussions on cryptocurrency at places such as TEDx San Francisco, the IMF, Singularity University and the Oslo Freedom Forum. She lives in New York City.