Money: From Bronze to Bitcoin, The True Story of a Made-up Thing

Humanity has created money out of nothingness, so why in today's world is it impossible to live without it? And why is it that no one really understands what it is? Join Jacob Goldstein on a fascinating historical journey through the centuries to explore the origins, significance, and potential future of money, from its enigmatic beginnings to the current rise of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Money only works when we all agree to believe in it. In Money: From Bronze to Bitcoin, American journalist and author Jacob Goldstein shows how the concept of currency is a useful fiction that has shaped societies for thousands of years, from the rise of coins in ancient Greece to the first stock market in Amsterdam to the emergence of shadow banking in the 21st century.

At the heart of the story are the fringe thinkers and world leaders who reimagined money. Kublai Khan, the Mongol emperor, created paper money backed by nothing, centuries before it appeared in the west. John Law, a professional gambler and convicted murderer, brought modern money to France (and destroyed the country's economy). The cypherpunks, a group of radical libertarian computer programmers, paved the way for bitcoin.

Full of interesting stories and quirky facts - from the islanders who used huge stones as a means of exchange to the merits of universal basic income - this is an indispensable handbook for anyone curious about how money came to make the world go round.