Episode notes
The Fiat Standard - Chapter 1 Read by Guy Swann
"For the reader who has become familiar with the operation of bitcoin, a good way to understand the operation of fiat is by drawing analogy to the operation of bitcoin using concepts like mining, nodes, balances, and proof of work. My aim is to explain the operation and engineering structure of the fiat monetary system and how it operates, in reality, away from the naive romanticism of governments and banks who have benefited from this system for a century." - Saifedean Ammous
Today we dig into Chapter 1 of the sequel to the seminal work in the Bitcoin ecosystem, The Fiat Standard. The book is being published on Saifedean.com chapter by chapter before its final release, and you can subscribe to get his courses and the other chapters as they release. But today we dig into the first chapter, the ideas, and a new mindset for examining the failures and successes of fiat money. This is not to be missed.
Visit saifedean.com for more information on The Fiat Standard, the new book by Saifedean Ammous.
Find Guy Swann on Twitter @TheCryptoconomy
THE BITCOIN STANDARD TOOLKIT
The Bitcoin Standard Toolkit is a selection of the Bitcoin services I recommend to readers and learners on saifedean.com, as they upgrade from The Fiat Standard to The Bitcoin Standard.
NYDIG is a leading full-service financial services firm dedicated to Bitcoin, applying institutional wisdom and ingenuity to help clients access the unrealized potential of this emerging asset class. NYDIG offers the full suite of financial solutions needed for financial institutions to access Bitcoin, from custody, execution, financing, treasury solutions, integration partnerships, and more.
Check their website here: https://nydig.com/
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To secure your bitcoins, it is important to keep your seedphrase backed up safely, and for that, I highly recommend using the CypherWheel seed storage device, a gorgeous and brilliant sturdy piece of low time preference engineering from a fourth-generation machine shop in Maine.
Check their website here: https://cyphersafe.io/
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Whenever someone asks me how to invest in Bitcoin, my advice is to accumulate bitcoins periodically for the long run, or dollar-cost averaging. When you buy every day, week, or month, you play bitcoin’s volatility to your advantage. In the long run, this strategy will outperform every other bitcoin investment strategy, except for dumb luck, and lying about timing the market. For dollar-cost averaging, I strongly recommend OKCoin, the exchange with the lowest fees for recurring purchases worldwide. OKCoin is also the bitcoin exchange accessible in the most countries around the world.
Check their website here: https://okcoin.com/
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I believe it is really important to run a node, but I don’t recommend running it on your work or personal computer, as it can compromise the performance of your computer and, more importantly, the security and privacy of your bitcoin node. A far better solution is to buy a dedicated hardware node, and for that, I highly recommend Nodl.
Check their website here: https://www.nodl.it/
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My hardware wallet of choice is the Coldcard. I strongly recommend only conducing bitcoin trades on computers that are dedicated to bitcoin and cannot connect to the internet. I like the Coldcard because it is a contained machine optimized for bitcoin and bitcoin only.
Coldcard is basically a small computer that can only do bitcoin, which makes securing it more straight-forward. Use the code BITCOINSTANDARD on coldcardwallet.com to get a 5% discount.
Check their website here: https://coldcardwallet.com/
