Bitcoin became a buzzword overnight. A cyber-enigma with an enthusiastic following, it pops up in headlines and fuels endless media debate. You can apparently use it to buy anything from coffee to cars, yet few people seem to truly understand what it is. This raises the question: Why should anyone care about bitcoin? In The Age of Cryptocurrency, Wall Street journalists Paul Vigna and Michael J. Casey deliver the definitive answer to this question. Cybermoney is poised to launch a revolution, one that could reinvent traditional financial and social structures while bringing the world's billions of "unbanked" individuals into a new global economy. Cryptocurrency holds the promise of a financial system without a middleman, one owned by the people who use it and one safeguarded from the devastation of a 2008-type crash. But bitcoin, the most famous of the cybermonies, carries a reputation for instability, wild fluctuation, and illicit business; some fear it has the power to eliminate jobs and to upend the concept of a nation-state. It implies, above all, monumental and wide-reaching change-for better and for worse. But it is here to stay, and you ignore it at your peril. Vigna and Casey demystify cryptocurrency-its origins, its function, and what you need to know to navigate a cyber-economy. The digital currency world will look very different from the paper currency world; The Age of Cryptocurrency will teach you how to be ready.

一夕之間，比特幣成為時髦的熱門名詞，甫問世即吸引狂熱的擁護者，成為令人費解的網路現象。比特幣不僅一躍成為媒體的頭條焦點，也是各界激論不休的話題。比特幣號稱無所不能，小至咖啡，大至汽車，任何商品都能用它交易，但似乎還有不少人對它一知半解。問題是，我們為何要關注比特幣？《華爾街日報》記者保羅．威格納 (Paul Vigna) 及麥可．凱西 (Michael J. Casey) 將在本書中給出一個最明確的答案。數位貨幣隨時準備掀起革命，它讓全世界高達數十億的非銀行用戶人口成為新全球經濟體的一分子，徹底改變傳統金融體系及社會結構。加密數位貨幣制度承諾打造出一個不需要中間人的金融體系，一切由用戶自己管控，並且保證不再重演 2008 年金融海嘯的危機。但其中最廣為人知的比特幣，卻因其幣值不穩定、價格劇烈波動以及合法爭議而為人詬病。有些人擔心它會造成工作機會消失並顛覆民族國家的概念，改變現行匯率制度。重點是，它為世界帶來重大深遠的改變，好壞參半。現在比特幣已經蔚為風潮，影響力不容輕忽。本書兩位作者將為大家解開加密數位貨幣的謎團，介紹它的起源、功能以及在操作數位經濟時的注意事項。數位貨幣的世界和傳統紙幣迥然不同，本書將是你最佳的教戰指南。