Thread by @LightningK0ala

Just finished reading the "The Bitcoin Standard".
Thank you @saifedean for such a wonderful book! ⚡️

Here are some of the passages I highlighted whilst going through it:

#bitcoin

1/ "...a slow drain of its monetary value over time will slowly transfer the wealth of its holders to those who can produce the medium at a low cost". (on trade / aggry beads and early European exploitation of African resources)

2/ "With money so unreliable and debased, speculation in commodities became far more attractive than producing them". (on the collapse of Rome)

3/ "History shows it is not possible to insulate yourself from the consequences of others holding money that is harder than yours" (on the demonetization of silver and the impact on China and India)

4/ "Debt-fueled mass consumption is as much of a normal part of capitalism as asphyxiation is a normal part of respiration"

5/ H.L. Mencken: "Every election is an advanced auction on stolen goods"

6/ "As the Medicis have been replaced with the artistic equivalent of DMV workers..." (on the impact of unsound money on art & culture)

7/ Rothbard: "There is only one good thing about Marx, at least he was not a Keynesian"

8/ "Bitcoin is also the first example of absolute scarcity, the only liquid commodity (digital or physical) with a set fixed quantity that cannot conceivably be increased."

9/ "...the first 20 million coins will be mined by around the year 2025, leaving 1 million coins to be mined over one more century" (on Bitcoin's supply inflation schedule)

10/ "Any coin that begins with a group of individuals changing Bitcoin's specification has with its creation lost arguably the only property that makes bitcoin valuable in the first place."

aka the "immaculate conception"

11/ "The growth of these altcoins cannot be understood outside the context of easy government money looking for easy investment, forming large bubbles in massive malinvestments"

12/ The fixation with Blockchain technology is a great example of "cargo cult science"

Didn't realise that chart was only up to 2008!