In Safely Joining Bitcoin the everyday person is offered a way to safely invest in liquid digital assets like Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum. Properly managing the highly secure and highly-liquid nature of cryptocurrency is a delicate process and shouldn’t be done blindly, alone, or without proper instruction! The goal of the book is to get you immediately educated, earning, and using Bitcoin for real, everyday purposes. Safely Joining Bitcoin makes living on crypto a reality as it guides you through the best, highest-yielding, most decentralized, and most market-tested platforms available for managing crypto on your own. Finally, there's a way to quickly and safely exit the legacy banking system. In this interactive guide you, your family, or your business can take advantage of the benefits of owning and controlling crypto assets using best practices and secure recommendations.
In Safely Joining Bitcoin the everyday person is offered a way to safely invest in liquid digital assets like Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum. Properly managing the highly secure and highly-liquid nature of cryptocurrency is a delicate process and shouldn’t be done blindly, alone, or without proper instruction! The goal of the book is to get you immediately educated, earning, and using Bitcoin for real, everyday purposes. Safely Joining Bitcoin makes living on crypto a reality as it guides you through the best, highest-yielding, most decentralized, and most market-tested platforms available for managing crypto on your own. Finally, there's a way to quickly and safely exit the legacy banking system. In this interactive guide you, your family, or your business can take advantage of the benefits of owning and controlling crypto assets using best practices and secure recommendations.
What is a bitcoin?
A “Bitcoin” refers to the reward that a computer receives for running some software that solves complex mathematical puzzles. This process of solving puzzles is also called “mining.” Miners allow their computers to run day and night solving the puzzles, or “mining,” opening up spaces with cryptographically unique addresses in an online database. This database system, however, is different from the traditional client-server model used most commonly today.
Anytime you access content on the traditional internet, you’re making a request for a copy of some content. In contrast, the infrastructure that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies operate on top of is what is called the Interplanetary File System, or IPFS. Instead of requesting and searching for a copy of web content, the IPFS protocol scours the network for content, and connects a user (you) to the user who’s hosting that content, much like file torrent software, like Napster, that hosts content and allows personal downloads. All Bitcoin users are connected and a part of the same blockchain network. At the basis of it all, it is a simple peer-to-peer network of nodes that all run a special piece of software that 1) stores data, 2) allows transactions to run in order to update that data, and 3) connects with peers to download and spread more similar data.
Bitcoin isn't just a “weird form” of PayPal, it isn’t just a new payment system. It takes an obscure branch of mathematics, called cryptography, and applies it to establishing trust amongst a neutral, peer-to-peer network of nodes using blockchain technology as its mechanism. When you receive a Bitcoin transaction, the software that you’re running can independently and authoritatively verify that it is real and unique. The network processes and checks the validity of all other Bitcoin transactions (this is the job of the consensus algorithm) against a public ledger called the mining ledger, in this case, the Bitcoin blockchain mining ledger. This ledger is a linear, time-stamped record of every coin ever created before yours. It is publicly accessible, meaning anyone with a computer can verify the validity of every coin involved in every transaction within the network. What this creates is a global, decentralized, immutable, public, borderless, and censorship-proof record of every transaction ever created within the network — a brand-new public utility for securely tracking ownership over virtually any object.
“The reason Bitcoin is so fascinating … is because bitcoin is not a company, it's not a product, it's not a service you sign up for. It is the concept of decentralization applied to the human communication of value. It is a platform of trust...”
-Andreas Antonopolus
Safely Joining Bitcoin by Matthias J Karber has three objectives: (i) to assure readers that crypto is safe, (ii) using it is practical, and (iii) to use it is beneficial. While Bitcoin is an irresistibly tempting opportunity these days to make a pile of money quickly, the majority of aspirants fear taking the plunge for the selfsame reasons.
This book rightly addresses the concerns above. To check whether it fulfills the stated objectives, I asked the following questions:
1. Does it have the content required to get you safely onboard the crypto world?
2. Does it make you adequately conversant with statutory/social obligations and how to discharge them properly?
3. Once you’ve become an insider, will you have the skills needed to pursue your objectives on your own (i.e., without requiring assistance from someone else)?
4. What are some issues about crypto (not discussed in the book) that you cannot avoid knowing for long-term success as an insider?
The answer to #1 above is a definite “Yes.”
The answer to #2 is “Partial.” You may need to go deeper to learn your tax/other obligations and how to discharge them.
The answer to #3 is a “Yes and no. Yes, if you are IT-savvy. No otherwise.” If you lack STEM skills, in addition, you’re headed for certain disaster if you plan to go it alone.
The answer to #4 is “Yes, there are significant omissions in the book that it’s wise to be aware of before deciding to join.”
There isn’t sufficient space in a review like this to go into details, but briefly (i) Crypto/bitcoin is too hi-tech for the layperson to venture into without an IT-savvy person’s support. You’re safe only till you hit a hi-tech issue beyond your ability to handle (ii) It has serious loopholes that could lead to national/global security issues, if used unregulated, and (iii) It isn’t universally accepted. While the US, UK, Canada, and some EU countries have accorded partial approval, many countries have rejected it, China and Egypt being prominent names on the list.
With the omissions/shortcomings borne in mind, this is simply one lovely book to read! The technical backdrop behind the book is extremely complex, but the author makes it a cakewalk for the reader through powerful simplification, analogies, etc. What you get to read is simple, elegant, easily flowing, and delightfully clear content. The choice of font, font size, style, formatting, colors, etc. are almost ideal. Additionally, it’s a short book, just around 70 pages in length. Put together, it’s a beautiful book to own/read.
Finally, turning to recommendations, I’d say it’s a book only for serious readers. The elderly and error-prone should avoid it. Some basic knowledge of accounting is preferable. Caution needs to be exercised until you are comfortably settled in.