Just like what I did in 2009, studying economics, an academic discipline that was completely foreign to me, I am now studying a new field that is related to blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. When I first opened Principles of Economics, a book authored by Carl Menger, the founder of the Austrian School, everything appeared alien to me. It’s like I was entering a new country, which language I don’t understand. The first two to three months was a struggle, but I persevered. After seven years of studying, somehow, I gained familiarity with the general landscape of this very challenging academic discipline (A deeper understanding of both economic and monetary theories require specialization. One has to dig deeper into praxeology, Keynesianism, and entrepreneurship to have a better economic perspective. As to monetary theory, the literature is vast, which includes currency, credit, inflation, business cycle, banking, and the gold standard). My study gave me a lens to see the economic and monetary problems of our time from a specific school of thought, which many considered obsolete and outdated. Though the Austrian School of Economics is a minority voice, personally, I find reading the basic literature from this school beneficial to understand topics like capitalism, bureaucracy, economic policy, inflation, interventionism, socialism, statism, and other diverse economic and monetary theories. I wrote reviews of at least six books from this school, mostly authored by Ludwig von Mises such as The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality, Bureaucracy, and Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow. The last book I reviewed from this school is the one written by Tom Woods Jr., Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse. I also did a review of Mises’ booklet, Planned Chaos, and his wife’s book, My Years with Ludwig von Mises. I integrated relevant contents from these reviews into my lecture on Church and Society course.
However, though helpful in some way, my immersion in the basic literature from this school somehow closed my mind to see the potential opportunities in blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. I failed to mention that prior to my study of economics, I have been involved in financial literacy for more or less four years. In fact, it was my reading of Robert Kiyosaki’s books that directed me to discover the works of Ron Paul, Ludwig von Mises, and others. Nevertheless, one strong advocate of this school of economics that I have been listening to for years, even before my decision to study economics had a strong influence on the way I look at cryptocurrency. As a result, though I already stumbled with Bitcoin in 2009, I never gave it a serious look.
It was not until July of this year that providentially, God used my eldest son to open my eyes about the opportunities resulting from the convergence of three forces: technology, finance, and gaming. To my mind, this is exactly what I have been looking for as an alternative to the existing monetary system, which Christian economists see as dishonest and actually an institutional form that violates God’s moral law on private property.
And so, I started my reading on blockchain technology and cryptocurrency last July. The first book that introduced me into this field is the one published by industry experts at defiyield.app, The Wall Street Era is Over: The Investor’s Guide to Cryptocurrency and DeFi, The Decentralized Finance Revolution. After digesting the book, I browsed three more from CoinGecko: How to DeFi, How to DeFi: Advanced, and How to Bitcoin. But somehow my succeeding reading is not as productive as the Wall Street book for I failed to take down notes perhaps due to too much information. So, for two months now, I am not actually making any substantial progress in my understanding of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. It’s a blessing that some content creators here on Hive are very generous in sharing their insights. Though I struggle to catch up, at least some of their statements make sense to me. Still, I feel this is not how I used to learn. Just what happened to me in studying economics, I also expect that by reading introductory books about blockchain technology and crypto currency, I will gain little by little a certain degree of familiarity with the jargons and ideas. At last, I think I found one to provide me guidance. It was fortunate that I stumbled with an article from Maker Blog recommending seven best books to read on crypto. I am now more or less 30% in reading Claire L. Evans, Broadband: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet.