The Politics of Bitcoin PDF Download

Author: David Golumbia
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 1452953813
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 107

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Book Description
Since its introduction in 2009, Bitcoin has been widely promoted as a digital currency that will revolutionize everything from online commerce to the nation-state. Yet supporters of Bitcoin and its blockchain technology subscribe to a form of cyberlibertarianism that depends to a surprising extent on far-right political thought. The Politics of Bitcoin exposes how much of the economic and political thought on which this cryptocurrency is based emerges from ideas that travel the gamut, from Milton Friedman, F.A. Hayek, and Ludwig von Mises to Federal Reserve conspiracy theorists. Forerunners: Ideas First is a thought-in-process series of breakthrough digital publications. Written between fresh ideas and finished books, Forerunners draws on scholarly work initiated in notable blogs, social media, conference plenaries, journal articles, and the synergy of academic exchange. This is gray literature publishing: where intense thinking, change, and speculation take place in scholarship.

Author: Linda Monsees
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429852673
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
This book examines current debates about the politics of technology and the future of democratic practices in the digital era. The volume centres on the debates on digital encryption in Germany and the USA, during the aftermath of Edward Snowden’s leaks, which revolved around the value of privacy and the legitimacy of surveillance practices. Using a discourse analysis of mass media and specialist debates, it shows how these are closely interlinked with technological controversies and how, as a result, contestation emerges not within one public sphere but within multiple expert circles. The book develops the notion of ‘publicness’ in order to grasp the political significance of these controversies, thereby making an innovative contribution to Critical Security Studies by introducing digital encryption as an important site for understanding the broader debates on cyber security and surveillance. This book will be of much interest to students of critical security studies, science and technology studies, and International Relations.

Author: Craig Jarvis
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000284867
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
The crypto wars have raged for half a century. In the 1970s, digital privacy activists prophesied the emergence of an Orwellian State, made possible by computer-mediated mass surveillance. The antidote: digital encryption. The U.S. government warned encryption would not only prevent surveillance of law-abiding citizens, but of criminals, terrorists, and foreign spies, ushering in a rival dystopian future. Both parties fought to defend the citizenry from what they believed the most perilous threats. The government tried to control encryption to preserve its surveillance capabilities; privacy activists armed citizens with cryptographic tools and challenged encryption regulations in the courts. No clear victor has emerged from the crypto wars. Governments have failed to forge a framework to govern the, at times conflicting, civil liberties of privacy and security in the digital age—an age when such liberties have an outsized influence on the citizen–State power balance. Solving this problem is more urgent than ever. Digital privacy will be one of the most important factors in how we architect twenty-first century societies—its management is paramount to our stewardship of democracy for future generations. We must elevate the quality of debate on cryptography, on how we govern security and privacy in our technology-infused world. Failure to end the crypto wars will result in societies sleepwalking into a future where the citizen–State power balance is determined by a twentieth-century status quo unfit for this century, endangering both our privacy and security. This book provides a history of the crypto wars, with the hope its chronicling sets a foundation for peace.

Author: Arvind Narayanan
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400884152
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
An authoritative introduction to the exciting new technologies of digital money Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies provides a comprehensive introduction to the revolutionary yet often misunderstood new technologies of digital currency. Whether you are a student, software developer, tech entrepreneur, or researcher in computer science, this authoritative and self-contained book tells you everything you need to know about the new global money for the Internet age. How do Bitcoin and its block chain actually work? How secure are your bitcoins? How anonymous are their users? Can cryptocurrencies be regulated? These are some of the many questions this book answers. It begins by tracing the history and development of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and then gives the conceptual and practical foundations you need to engineer secure software that interacts with the Bitcoin network as well as to integrate ideas from Bitcoin into your own projects. Topics include decentralization, mining, the politics of Bitcoin, altcoins and the cryptocurrency ecosystem, the future of Bitcoin, and more. An essential introduction to the new technologies of digital currency Covers the history and mechanics of Bitcoin and the block chain, security, decentralization, anonymity, politics and regulation, altcoins, and much more Features an accompanying website that includes instructional videos for each chapter, homework problems, programming assignments, and lecture slides Also suitable for use with the authors' Coursera online course Electronic solutions manual (available only to professors)

Author: Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351814079
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
Since the launch of Bitcoin in 2009 several hundred different ‘cryptocurrencies’ have been developed and become accepted for a wide variety of transactions in leading online commercial marketplaces and the ‘sharing economy’, as well as by more traditional retailers, manufacturers, and even by charities and political parties. Bitcoin and its competitors have also garnered attention for their wildly fluctuating values as well as implication in international money laundering, Ponzi schemes and online trade in illicit goods and services across borders. These and other controversies surrounding cryptocurrencies have induced varying governance responses by central banks, government ministries, international organizations, and industry regulators worldwide. Besides formal attempts to ban Bitcoin, there have been multifaceted efforts to incorporate elements of blockchains, the peer-to-peer technology underlying cryptocurrencies, in the wider exchange, recording, and broadcasting of digital transactions. Blockchains are being mobilized to support and extend an array of governance activities. The novelty and breadth of growing blockchain-based activities have fuelled both utopian promises and dystopian fears regarding applications of the emergent technology to Bitcoin and beyond. This volume brings scholars of anthropology, economics, Science and Technology Studies, and sociology together with GPE scholars in assessing the actual implications posed by Bitcoin and blockchains for contemporary global governance. Its interdisciplinary contributions provide academics, policymakers, industry practitioners and the general public with more nuanced understandings of technological change in the changing character of governance within and across the borders of nation-states.

Author: Darcy W.E. Allen
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1498579647
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
A cryptodemocracy is cryptographically-secured collective choice infrastructure on which individuals coordinate their voting property rights. Drawing on economic and political theory, a cryptodemocracy is a more fluid and emergent form of collective choice. This book examines these theoretical characteristics before exploring specific applications of a cryptodemocracy in labor bargaining and corporate governance. The analysis of the characteristics of a more emergent and contractual democratic process has implications for a wide range of collective choice.

Author: Cleve Mesidor
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
A gritty and honest memoir against a historical backdrop. At its core, it is a story about the good fight entwined with a coming of age narrative. Struggling to find her place in the world, Cleve Mesidor, a Gen Xer, chronicles her nomadic journey that begins during the tumultuous 70s in Haiti. After migrating to NYC, she gets swept up by hip hop culture in the 80s and 90s. Later in her twenties, she is catapulted into Washington politics at the dawning of the 21st century. Navigating political campaigns, economic crises, and progressive hypocrisy, disillusionment sets in but she stumbles into hope while going down the blockchain and cryptocurrency rabbit hole. www.THECLEVOLUTION.comThe Author: Cleve Mesidor is founder of the National Policy Network of Women of Color in Blockchain. A Washington insider, she served as an Obama Presidential Appointee, a senior staffer in Congress, and in the leadership of national political campaigns. Cleve is a Howard University alumna and member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. She regularly speaks at national conferences and has been featured in prominent publications and broadcast media outlets. Cleve was born in Haiti and raised in New York City. She currently resides in Washington DC

Author: Joseph Lee
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429657315
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
Crypto-Finance, Law and Regulation investigates whether crypto-finance will cause a paradigm shift in regulation from a centralised model to a model based on distributed consensus. This book explores the emergence of a decentralised and disintermediated crypto-market and investigates the way in which it can transform the financial markets. It examines three components of the financial market – technology, finance, and the law – and shows how their interrelationship dictates the structure of a crypto-market. It focuses on regulators’ enforcement policies and their jurisdiction over crypto-finance operators and participants. The book also discusses the latest developments in crypto-finance, and the advantages and disadvantages of crypto-currency as an alternative payment product. It also investigates how such a decentralised crypto-finance system can provide access to finance, promote a shared economy, and allow access to justice. By exploring the law, regulation and governance of crypto-finance from a national, regional and global viewpoint, the book provides a fascinating and comprehensive overview of this important topic and will appeal to students, scholars and practitioners interested in regulation, finance and the law.

Author: Laura Shin
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1541763009
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 283

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Book Description
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, recently reaching a market valuation of more than $2 trillion. The central promise of crypto endures—vast fortunes made from decentralized networks not controlled by any single entity and not yet regulated by many governments. The recent growth of crypto would have been all but impossible if not for a brilliant young man named Vitalik Buterin and his creation: Ethereum. In this book, Laura Shin takes readers inside the founding of this novel cryptocurrency network, which enabled users to launch their own new coins, thus creating a new crypto fever. She introduces readers to larger-than-life characters like Buterin, the Web3 wunderkind; his short-lived CEO, Charles Hoskinson; and Joe Lubin, a former Goldman Sachs VP who became one of crypto’s most well-known billionaires. Sparks fly as these outsized personalities fight for their piece of a seemingly limitless new business opportunity. This fascinating book shows the crypto market for what it really is: a deeply personal struggle to influence the coming revolution in money, culture, and power.

Author: Steven Levy
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101199466
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 604

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Book Description
If you've ever made a secure purchase with your credit card over the Internet, then you have seen cryptography, or "crypto", in action. From Stephen Levy—the author who made "hackers" a household word—comes this account of a revolution that is already affecting every citizen in the twenty-first century. Crypto tells the inside story of how a group of "crypto rebels"—nerds and visionaries turned freedom fighters—teamed up with corporate interests to beat Big Brother and ensure our privacy on the Internet. Levy's history of one of the most controversial and important topics of the digital age reads like the best futuristic fiction.