Why Cryptocurrencies?: What They Are, what They Do and why They Matter

Front Cover
Jonas Hietala, May 31, 2021 - Business & Economics - 282 pages

Bitcoin is one of the most transformative technologies in history, but at the same time it's dismissed as useless or only seen as a speculative vehicle. Why Cryptocurrencies? will dispel that myth by exploring real use-cases and show how cryptocurrencies are uniquely positioned to revolutionize the way we use money today.


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What makes this book special?


  • Gives you the important conceptual ideas. It's all too easy to get bogged down with technical details; the high-level concepts are what's truly important.
  • Easy to read. The book is beginner-friendly and doesn't require any prior knowledge.
  • Focused on utility. The focus is on concrete use-cases, instead of the more seductive speculative approach.
  • It's bigger than Bitcoin. There are many more cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. The focus is on the general cryptocurrency concept and it's potential, instead of on a single implementation.
  • Visits a wide variety of topics. This isn't only about cryptocurrencies. It's also about money, censorship, our financial system, and the dark secrets that Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden revealed.
  • The order doesn't matter. Chapters are self-contained, so you can jump around and read the sections you're interested in.

About the author (2021)

Jonas Hietala is a software developer and a cryptocurrency enthusiast. He has been following the Bitcoin and Blockchain space since 2014 and is developing a self-hosted cryptocurrency payment processor.

Bibliographic information