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Popping the Crypto Bubble
The story of cryptocurrency is a history of the modern world reflected in technology. It is based on the different narratives that have shaped the economic and political reality of a world spinning out of control. It is also the story of a financial revolution that carries the seeds of its own destruction. Once intended as a peer-to-peer medium of payment, crypto has today morphed almost exclusively into a speculative investment asset. How can we decode crypto, learn from its mistakes, and predict what the future holds for this new currency? In Popping the Crypto Bubble, we uncover the truth about the technology behind cryptocurrency, its political ideations and the narratives that drive the biggest economic bubble in the history of mankind.
Contents
Introduction
The History of Crypto
The Cypherpunk Era
The Grifter Era
Historical Market Manias
South Sea Bubble of 1720
Mississippi Bubble of 1720
Railway Mania of the 1840s
Wildcat Banking of the 1800s
The Market Crash of 1929
Albanian Pyramid Schemes of the 1990s
Enron Scandal (1985 - 2007)
Beanie Babies (1995 - 2000)
The Dot-com Bubble (1995 - 2001)
The Subprime Mortgage Crisis (2003 - 2008)
Venture Capital Bubble (2010 - Present)
The Crypto Bubble (2016 - Present)
Economic Problems
Failure as Money
Failure as an Investment
Technical Problems
Scalability
Privacy
Security
Compliance
Valuation Problems
Asset Classification
The Theory of the Greater Fool
Environmental Problems
Wasteful Mining
Environmental Horrors
Cryptocurrency Culture
Cryptoanarchism
Technolibertarianism
Austrian Economic
Financial Nihilism
Ethical Problems
Selling Snake Oil
Illicit Activity
The Unbanked
MMM Ponzi Scheme
The Cult of Crypto
The Golden Calf
True Believers
Casino Capitalism
The Nature of Capitalism
LIBOR-cube Swaps
Crypto Exchanges
Neo-Bucket Shops
Flavors of Market Manipulation
Digital Gold
Fools Gold
Not an Inflation Hedge
Smart Contracts
Smart Contracts are not Contracts
Smart Contracts are not Smart
Blockchainism
The Pseudoscience of Trust Alchemy
The Blockchain Meme
Frauds & Scams
Fraud Triangle
Ponzi Schemes
Pump and Dumps
Giveaway Scams
Distributed Control Frauds
Web3
NFTs
The Reproducibility Problem
The Duplication Problem
The Plagiarism Problem
The Multiple Chain Problem
The Link Rot Problem
The Tinkerbell Effect
Market Manipulation
Play to Earn Games
DAOs
DeFi
The Metaverse
Stablecoins
The Idea of Stablecoins
Central Bank Digital Currencies
Crypto Journalism
Checkbook Journalism
Disclosures
Initial Coin Offerings
Crazy Coins
Celebrity Endorsements
Court Cases
Tokens As Illegal Securities
Ransomware
Crypto
Contents
Introduction
The History of Crypto
The Cypherpunk Era
The Grifter Era
Historical Market Manias
South Sea Bubble of 1720
Mississippi Bubble of 1720
Railway Mania of the 1840s
Wildcat Banking of the 1800s
The Market Crash of 1929
Albanian Pyramid Schemes of the 1990s
Enron Scandal (1985 - 2007)
Beanie Babies (1995 - 2000)
The Dot-com Bubble (1995 - 2001)
The Subprime Mortgage Crisis (2003 - 2008)
Venture Capital Bubble (2010 - Present)
The Crypto Bubble (2016 - Present)
Economic Problems
Failure as Money
Failure as an Investment
Technical Problems
Scalability
Privacy
Security
Compliance
Valuation Problems
Asset Classification
The Theory of the Greater Fool
Environmental Problems
Wasteful Mining
Environmental Horrors
Cryptocurrency Culture
Cryptoanarchism
Technolibertarianism
Austrian Economic
Financial Nihilism
Ethical Problems
Selling Snake Oil
Illicit Activity
The Unbanked
MMM Ponzi Scheme
The Cult of Crypto
The Golden Calf
True Believers
Casino Capitalism
The Nature of Capitalism
LIBOR-cube Swaps
Crypto Exchanges
Neo-Bucket Shops
Flavors of Market Manipulation
Digital Gold
Fools Gold
Not an Inflation Hedge
Smart Contracts
Smart Contracts are not Contracts
Smart Contracts are not Smart
Blockchainism
The Pseudoscience of Trust Alchemy
The Blockchain Meme
Frauds & Scams
Fraud Triangle
Ponzi Schemes
Pump and Dumps
Giveaway Scams
Distributed Control Frauds
Web3
NFTs
The Reproducibility Problem
The Duplication Problem
The Plagiarism Problem
The Multiple Chain Problem
The Link Rot Problem
The Tinkerbell Effect
Market Manipulation
Play to Earn Games
DAOs
DeFi
The Metaverse
Stablecoins
The Idea of Stablecoins
Central Bank Digital Currencies
Crypto Journalism
Checkbook Journalism
Disclosures
Initial Coin Offerings
Crazy Coins
Celebrity Endorsements
Court Cases
Tokens As Illegal Securities
Ransomware
Crypto
308 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 15, 2022
18 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 20, 2022
As Stephen Diehl shows, the crypto 'industry' - if it can be called that - is based on the slim technology of blockchain (which is too slow to ever be useful) and the libertarian hype that fiat money is a government scam and needs to be replaced by decentralised money systems (like Bitcoin).
In between, the linked world of the internet has provided connectivity to such ideas via the marketing hype of Facebook and similar and the ever-present scams. In crypto, the scams are huge and varied.
Popping the Crypto Bubble is a book of enormous learning and education. Just like a mountaineer needs extensive training and equipment before daring to climb Everest, so investors need (and are rarely provided or bother to be provided) with knowledge and awareness to climb in risky investments. The danger of mountaineering is death or injury. The danger in high-risk investment is losing all one's money.
As Diehl rightly shows, the world of crypto is not even investment but a one-sided gamble where the punters have little or no idea what they are doing or the risks of placing their money in a zero-benefit enterprise where sharks are the norm and are everywhere.
This book is far more than a book about the nonsense of 'investing' (gambling) in crypto. It is about the psychology of 21st Century money, investor stupidity and reluctance to learn before jumping in and some reasons why - e.g. a youth that feels it has nothing to lose.
In many ways, this is a depressing read but it captures the zeitgeist in a highly readable and hugely informative way. Stephen is totally committed to helping people learn something of the reality of crypto craziness and why it makes no sense to enter the cauldron of scam investments where only the scammers know what they are doing and everyone else will lose unless they are very lucky.
Brilliantly written, thoroughly researched, massively important.
In between, the linked world of the internet has provided connectivity to such ideas via the marketing hype of Facebook and similar and the ever-present scams. In crypto, the scams are huge and varied.
Popping the Crypto Bubble is a book of enormous learning and education. Just like a mountaineer needs extensive training and equipment before daring to climb Everest, so investors need (and are rarely provided or bother to be provided) with knowledge and awareness to climb in risky investments. The danger of mountaineering is death or injury. The danger in high-risk investment is losing all one's money.
As Diehl rightly shows, the world of crypto is not even investment but a one-sided gamble where the punters have little or no idea what they are doing or the risks of placing their money in a zero-benefit enterprise where sharks are the norm and are everywhere.
This book is far more than a book about the nonsense of 'investing' (gambling) in crypto. It is about the psychology of 21st Century money, investor stupidity and reluctance to learn before jumping in and some reasons why - e.g. a youth that feels it has nothing to lose.
In many ways, this is a depressing read but it captures the zeitgeist in a highly readable and hugely informative way. Stephen is totally committed to helping people learn something of the reality of crypto craziness and why it makes no sense to enter the cauldron of scam investments where only the scammers know what they are doing and everyone else will lose unless they are very lucky.
Brilliantly written, thoroughly researched, massively important.
December 16, 2022
Superb presentation
The title hardly encapsulates the breadth and depth of the message. I wanted to gain a grasp on just what all the hubbub about cryptocurrency is and I think these authors have supplied a very good starting place. Super well documented, which points to a wealth of further reading. Bravo!!!
The title hardly encapsulates the breadth and depth of the message. I wanted to gain a grasp on just what all the hubbub about cryptocurrency is and I think these authors have supplied a very good starting place. Super well documented, which points to a wealth of further reading. Bravo!!!
July 19, 2022
<< We can create an entire industry speculating on the volatility of nothingness and turn every fictional thing into a tradable token, but should we? >>
Four stars because this is a much needed scathing indictment of the crypto world. I appreciated how the book covers more than just the technical side to delve into the underlying philosophy and social milieus (including a well-known type of technolibertarianism) which were instrumentals in pushing certain claims. Some argumentations are clearly made ad-hoc for their conclusions, which is to be expected and in general it's nice to finally have a book to counterbalance all the absurd positive claims made otherwise.
I am removing a star because the book has skipped its editing phase and it has been released with an absurd amount of typos, poorly worded sentences, repetitions of material and more. If a second edition is forthcoming, I suggest to wait a short while to read it.
Four stars because this is a much needed scathing indictment of the crypto world. I appreciated how the book covers more than just the technical side to delve into the underlying philosophy and social milieus (including a well-known type of technolibertarianism) which were instrumentals in pushing certain claims. Some argumentations are clearly made ad-hoc for their conclusions, which is to be expected and in general it's nice to finally have a book to counterbalance all the absurd positive claims made otherwise.
I am removing a star because the book has skipped its editing phase and it has been released with an absurd amount of typos, poorly worded sentences, repetitions of material and more. If a second edition is forthcoming, I suggest to wait a short while to read it.
July 5, 2022
Blistering takedown of a complete Ponzi scheme
September 6, 2023
bitcoin is the world
i think for the clueness
and some of the blockchain fanatics
on those financial radio shows
are total fruitcakes.....
Jeff Kaye's review on here is so well worded in places, i need to quote something
"the crypto 'industry' - if it can be called that - is based on the slim technology of blockchain (which is too slow to ever be useful) and the libertarian hype that fiat money is a government scam and needs to be replaced by decentralised money systems"
---
Amazone
covers all the bases and is very up-to-date
i went full circle regarding crypto. started in 2011 and thought it was great tech and relevant for everybody's future. after more than 10 years and literally no application for the average joe and his life i arrived at the conclusion it is in fact meaningless. this book was a very informative and surprisingly well written and researched work to find closure on my assumptions. a fool and his money are soon parted. buy this book, sell your crypto and be happy. great work guys.
Void
---
Excellent, Comprehensive, Interdisciplinary Critique
(with Horrendous Typos and Missing Phrases)
Stephen Diehl has written a comprehensive, multi-faceted polemic against the technology, political-economy and sociology of cryptocurrency. He makes use of a rare dual expertise in computer science and finance, as well as historical knowledge and a sophisticated political understanding, to dismantle the claims of cryptocurrency advocates across all domains.
He classifies cryptocurrencies as unregulated securities and exchanges as casinos, and situates the broader ecosystem in the historical-financial context of bubbles, speculative manias and scams; he explicates the crippling technical tradeoff inherent to blockchain technology (induced by a combination of absolute consensus and decentralisation); he dismantles the Austrian-school-influenced economic claims for cryptocurrencies; and more.
The critique is meticulous, technically rigorous, erudite, original, and devastating.
I wish I didn't have to make this criticism, but it must be said that I may have never read a book with more typos or, frankly, ungrammatical sentences. It genuinely seemed as if some sections of this book were first drafts that weren't even read over by the author. The reason I was able to mostly look over this is that most of the book didn't suffer from this flaw, only certain sections. An immediate bad sign when I first held the book was that the blurb on the back had random chunks of extra whitespace. Hopefully, these aspects are fixed up in future editions.
Tom
i think for the clueness
and some of the blockchain fanatics
on those financial radio shows
are total fruitcakes.....
Jeff Kaye's review on here is so well worded in places, i need to quote something
"the crypto 'industry' - if it can be called that - is based on the slim technology of blockchain (which is too slow to ever be useful) and the libertarian hype that fiat money is a government scam and needs to be replaced by decentralised money systems"
---
Amazone
covers all the bases and is very up-to-date
i went full circle regarding crypto. started in 2011 and thought it was great tech and relevant for everybody's future. after more than 10 years and literally no application for the average joe and his life i arrived at the conclusion it is in fact meaningless. this book was a very informative and surprisingly well written and researched work to find closure on my assumptions. a fool and his money are soon parted. buy this book, sell your crypto and be happy. great work guys.
Void
---
Excellent, Comprehensive, Interdisciplinary Critique
(with Horrendous Typos and Missing Phrases)
Stephen Diehl has written a comprehensive, multi-faceted polemic against the technology, political-economy and sociology of cryptocurrency. He makes use of a rare dual expertise in computer science and finance, as well as historical knowledge and a sophisticated political understanding, to dismantle the claims of cryptocurrency advocates across all domains.
He classifies cryptocurrencies as unregulated securities and exchanges as casinos, and situates the broader ecosystem in the historical-financial context of bubbles, speculative manias and scams; he explicates the crippling technical tradeoff inherent to blockchain technology (induced by a combination of absolute consensus and decentralisation); he dismantles the Austrian-school-influenced economic claims for cryptocurrencies; and more.
The critique is meticulous, technically rigorous, erudite, original, and devastating.
I wish I didn't have to make this criticism, but it must be said that I may have never read a book with more typos or, frankly, ungrammatical sentences. It genuinely seemed as if some sections of this book were first drafts that weren't even read over by the author. The reason I was able to mostly look over this is that most of the book didn't suffer from this flaw, only certain sections. An immediate bad sign when I first held the book was that the blurb on the back had random chunks of extra whitespace. Hopefully, these aspects are fixed up in future editions.
Tom
December 9, 2022
Great breakdown of the challenges of Crypto especially technical design flaws that are not resolvable. This is a good read for non-techy people too, I told my Dad to read this and he will never touch Crypto :)
January 13, 2023
Terrible book, full of factual inaccuracies. The author displays his lack of understand like a badge of honour.
February 27, 2023
The content is great, but needs editing. Lots of typos and stuff ms word should catch.
Its comprehensive, and I love the analysis of crypto as compared to other speculative bubbles.
Its comprehensive, and I love the analysis of crypto as compared to other speculative bubbles.
March 16, 2023
How was this book allowed to go to print? Shockingly full of errors, misprints and bad formatting. Awful.
May 2, 2023
There is fraud. Here is manipulation. And then this is crypto, a combination of both.
In year 2021-22, when the interest rates were historically low in a decade, there was easy money in the market, looking to get invested, or speculated. This was the exact time when the global stock market saw the bull run, although the companies' fundamentals and the crash before the covid-19 pandemic could justify it.
But that was not the case with cryptocurrencies (technically, they are not even currencies). Crypto was sold as the solution for everything.
"Did government become defunct in Venezuela?"
"Crypto is the solution."
"Want a hedge against the dollar?"
"Here is your crypto, sir."
"Want an alternative currency."
"Crypto, bruh."
"Do you want to own assets?"
"Why not crypto?"
A purely speculative activity was being labelled as a legitimate activity because, hey, everyone is doing that. The asset's intrinsic value doesn't come because everyone is doing that.
Diehl has done exemplary work to lay out how Crypto was labelled as everything. Still, it was nothing but a sophisticated Ponzi scheme, having a political ideology behind it for speculation. The book is good documentation of the crypto's history, the claims and their concrete counters, and what to do now. However, in the end, it becomes a bit tedious. It is recommended to readers who have speculated or want to speculate in the crypto market.
In year 2021-22, when the interest rates were historically low in a decade, there was easy money in the market, looking to get invested, or speculated. This was the exact time when the global stock market saw the bull run, although the companies' fundamentals and the crash before the covid-19 pandemic could justify it.
But that was not the case with cryptocurrencies (technically, they are not even currencies). Crypto was sold as the solution for everything.
"Did government become defunct in Venezuela?"
"Crypto is the solution."
"Want a hedge against the dollar?"
"Here is your crypto, sir."
"Want an alternative currency."
"Crypto, bruh."
"Do you want to own assets?"
"Why not crypto?"
A purely speculative activity was being labelled as a legitimate activity because, hey, everyone is doing that. The asset's intrinsic value doesn't come because everyone is doing that.
Diehl has done exemplary work to lay out how Crypto was labelled as everything. Still, it was nothing but a sophisticated Ponzi scheme, having a political ideology behind it for speculation. The book is good documentation of the crypto's history, the claims and their concrete counters, and what to do now. However, in the end, it becomes a bit tedious. It is recommended to readers who have speculated or want to speculate in the crypto market.
February 19, 2023
Clear explanation of the various aspects of crypto and its risks, everyone should read this.
December 22, 2023
A wide-ranging and detailed expose of crypto/DeFi/Web3
The selfish motivations of the various players in the industry are clearly set out.
The uselessness and counter productiveness for society of the new technology is explained in very specific and detailed manner.
The selfish motivations of the various players in the industry are clearly set out.
The uselessness and counter productiveness for society of the new technology is explained in very specific and detailed manner.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews