Virtual currencies have been grabbing headlines since the release of Bitcoin in 2008/9, and not always for the right reasons. Like any new technology, virtual currencies offer an equal share of promise and danger, creating opportunities for those locked out of today’s financial services and threatening to bypass incumbents.
In my role as Chief Analyst at UK-based consultancy Shift Thought, I have often been faced with questions from our clients about virtual currencies, such as: “How do they work?”, “What do they mean for my business?” and “How will they change the economy of my country?”, “Should I be worried”, “Where are virtual currencies headed” and “What are the regulatory implications”.
As a mathematician, scientist and engineer, I have come to depend on the availability of reliable books as a means of quickly getting a grasp of a new field. However, in the field of virtual currencies, I struggled to find reliable resources and this led to our efforts into building such a resource ourselves. There is a lot of raw information out there, but it is often hidden away in white papers and government studies. Some of the information also seems biased. Virtual currencies seem to have a way of encouraging fanatical loyalty or extreme loathing. Considering the disruptive potential of virtual currencies, it is critical to have some form of unbiased, comprehensive guide in order to rapidly understand the opportunities and challenges they represent.
At Shift Thought we research how people pay in each part of the world, and how this is changing. Utilising the architectures and proprietary technologies created by our founder Dr. Raju Oak, we have been able to create a constantly updated picture to inform the Digital Money Game described in the first book in the Digital Money Series.
In this second book, we wanted to create a guide for readers who are interested in understanding the multiple facets of virtual currencies, and a vision of where the virtual currency market is going, and how best to profit from its trajectory. If you work in financial services, telecoms or retail, this book will help to inform strategy with respect to virtual currencies. If you are a merchant or consumer, we hope that you will discover any potential advantages virtual currencies now offer. More importantly you should be able to understand the How and Why and also see potential risks from dealing with them.
We address questions from a wide cross-section of interest groups and perspectives. Dealing with the opportunities and challenges that virtual currencies represent will be crucial to the world economy. Providing a clear picture to those outside the virtual currencies community is vital in informing balanced decisions in the years to come. We wanted to create an easily accessible resource for young entrepreneurs and innovators around the world to explore this exciting space.
Our book Virtual Currencies - From Secrecy to Safety is available at Amazon sites across the world. You do not need to buy a kindle device as Amazon provides a free Kindle app for the PC as well as tablets and mobile devices. Do register at our Shift Thought portal to get access to more content and join us in The Digital Money Group on LinkedIn.
Join me for the next three posts, where I plan to cover some of the major themes of our book: The move from secrecy to safety, the importance of the mainstream user and the implications of decentralisation.
Great book Dr. Oak,
There are many people in a lot of countries that have been anxiously awaiting a book like this. There has been more than a little confusion out there as to what the issues, opportunities and challenges relating to the world of virtual currencies really are. The book delivers the goods in terms of crystallizing both the prizes and the pitfalls. Much appreciated!
The book couldn’t have come at a better time. Virtual currencies, such as bitcoin are the hot topic right now, yet there is a real lack of understanding about their impact on the world of digital payments. The book defintely helped me to navigate the crypto-currency minefield and understand the threats and opportunities from an objective standpoint.
Eager to learn everything about Bitcoin and its counterparts, I definitely found this book to be an extremely worthwhile read. I think it is a must-read for everyone in the sector, looking to break into the sector, or just interested in the future of money.