I expected to see a katana plunged into the heart of crypto. Instead I got a piece of wall art, where the two ideas were placed in near proximity, but without any contact.

The Bushido of Bitcoin

By: Aleksandar Svetski Published: 2024 529 Pages

Briefly, what is this book about?

Bitcoin will be the thing that saves the world from the fiat money created, debt fueled dystopia we're already descending into. As part of this salvation it will require people to adopt ancient (though also somewhat apocryphal) warrior virtues. Specifically: righteousness, courage, compassion, honor, honesty, responsibility, excellence, respect, duty, and restraint.

What's the author's angle?

As you may have already gathered, Svetski is a Bitcoin hyper-maximalist. Bitcoin isn't just our financial salvation, it's our spiritual salvation as well.

Who should read this book?

As a "return to virtue" tome it was pretty good, though long-winded, and a retread of books I'd already read. (Like Ryan Holiday's stoic stuff, if you're familiar with that.) On top of that it adds quite a bit of culture war stuff, which annoyed many of the reviewers on Goodreads and Amazon. It feels like a book without a natural audience. It's strident enough that you would already have to be convinced to enjoy it, but if you're already convinced then you probably know everything Svetski is going to say.

What does the book have to say about the future?

The book lays out two paths, we can double-down on the fiat-future which, at best, leads to dependence, and at worst disaster. Or we can adopt the more muscular, responsible, and sovereign path of Bitcoin. As usual with such books it skips over the messy middle.

Specific thoughts: We need a new civic religion, but I'm not sure this is it