The Bitcoin Standard (Summary)

Money has come in all shapes and sizes throughout history, but there’s only ever been one truly sound system: money backed by gold. The “gold standard” underwrote an age of prosperity and stability. That all changed in the early twentieth century, when European governments abandoned gold and fiscal prudence to fund their war efforts. The world hasn’t been the same since, and we’ve endured decades of rising debt and boom-and-bust cycles. High time for a change, then. That’s where Bitcoin comes in. Like gold, it’s a highly effective unit of exchange. But if it’s going to lead us to a new age of sound money, the digital currency will have to overcome some teething problems.