The Crypto Story Where it came from, what it all means, and why it still matters

I'm not finished reading it, but I have to say that this is one of the best write-ups on cryptocurrency I have ever seen. It isn't reductionist, narrow-minded, or deliberately tuning out people's needs and concerns purely because they don't share them (like most skeptics of the scene.) Nor is it full of meaningless idealistic fluff, like you see from the scenes worst evangelists.

This is an extremely nuanced matter, and it always has been. It's just nice to see a narrative that is expansive enough to account for that, for once. Especially here on HN.

Finally a comprehensive write-up about the crypto-space that involves careful reasoned analysis of the interests and motivations of the participants in the crypto-space. Addresses some favorite questions like the nature of money and property -- and how most of it is imaginary (like most things about the human experience).

The first section talks about property-records as being kept in a database, and it also talks about villages maintaining "in-memory" property records (in a pre-literate time). A cool method that humans have developed for durable record-keeping are Rai-stones.

Here are some of my note on those, in case we have any anthropology nerds lurking:

Rai Stones are variously-sized -- 3.5 centimeters to 3.6 meters in height -- circular, stone disks with engravings. They are used as currency, decoration, jewelry by the Yapese people of the Yap islands in micronesia. Because some of them are gigantic and weight a few thousand kilograms, they are difficult to transport. To facilitate easier transactions, the Yapese maintain a ledger -- via oral-tradition -- of who owns which fraction of which Rai Stone, not unlike a blockchain.

An interesting case of the use of the ledger to establish ownership over a stone, is when one of these massive stones was being transported by a ship, and the ship sunk into the middle of the pacific. It was never seen again, by any other human being -- it might not have even survived as a single piece -- yet, its ownership is still recorded in the ledger.

In principle, if all of the stones disappeared from the face of the earth, the oral ledger would still contain a list of who owns what.

Crypto-currencies can be considered as digital Rai Stones -- the value is in the ledger not the actual artifacts.

Ref: https://github.com/interlock-network/knowledgebase-public/bl...

This is a big deal because it’s only the second time in the publication’s history to do a cover-to-cover story on a topic (since one about code).

I’m not fully through it but I will say it starts a bit rough and suspect but he does a great job of clarifying points and providing accurate details on the basics of cryptography, blockchains, and the rise of digital currency.

Levine's continuing analysis of the twitter fiasco has also been a life saver trying to wade through the bs spun by seemingly all parties orbiting the deal.

Link to the archived version: https://archive.ph/l74fG

Amazing article. I'm deep in the crypto space and agree with everything in it. Does a good job explaining the good, bad, and ugly parts of the industry.

Matt Levine is really killing it here, nice to read a feature length piece from him.